


These Are the Best Days of Our Lives

by deathbysandblk



Category: MindCrack RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Mentions of alcohol, Mentions of homophobia, Sexual Harassment, Some tw for mentions of suicide, Swearing, mentions of bullying, mentions of domestic violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 10:29:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 54,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3484889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathbysandblk/pseuds/deathbysandblk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Etho loves Beef who loves Pause who doesn't know he exists. Everything changes when a new boy, Nebris, comes into the picture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	These Are the Best Days of Our Lives

**Author's Note:**

> I just copied and pasted the whole word document of this that I had and then put spaces in between. I'm sorry if at times it's hard to distinguish between thoughts and actual dialogue, but I'm a lazy piece of crap and don't want to italicize the thoughts like they originally were. Also, I am putting this on here for the convenience of people who like this story, but don't like reading it on tumblr (can't say I blame you).  
> If you are new to this story, I hope you enjoy it. My tumblr is: http://waitforiiiiiiiiiiiit.tumblr.com/

Beef:

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Beef groaned. Once again, he slammed his fist on the snooze button to silence it. He wasn’t ready to get up quite yet for his alarm signaled not only the start of a new day, but also of a new school year. Beef had been dreading the start of the school year for quite some time now.

It was his senior year, but he knew it wouldn’t be anything special. He’d still be his same old self, hopelessly pining over a guy who, as far as he knew, didn’t even know he existed.

“Beef,” his mother came in and shook him. “Beef, honey, you’re going to be late if you don’t get up now.”

Beef rolled over. “What does it matter anyway?”

“Beef, you should be happy, it’s your senior year!”

“No. Five more minutes.”

“Perhaps, I can be of assistance,” said another voice. Etho.

Etho had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. He felt a presence beside him and he felt Etho’s breath touch his ear as he whispered, “Well, I guess I’ll have to go to school and introduce myself to Pause. I have some information about a certain guy named Beef-,”

“You wouldn’t!” Beef replied looking anxious.

“Oh, wouldn’t I?” was Etho’s snarky response.

“I’m up! I’m up!” said Beef pulling away the covers.

“What did you say to him, Etho?” his mom asked.

“Nothing! Nothing!” said Beef, blushing. 

“Alright,” said his mother suspiciously. “I’ve got to go to work now. Have a great day!” she said as she walked away.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Beef went into his bathroom to change. Etho said, “So is this the year you finally do something about how you feel? You can’t hide your feelings forever.”

“I can and I intend to,” replied Beef.

“Beef, how do you expect anything to come of it, if you don’t at least talk to the guy?”

“He doesn’t even know I exist.”

“Well then change that!”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I’m afraid. Come on, let’s go.” Beef changed the subject as he emerged from his bathroom.

Beef had always rather enjoyed the walk to school that Etho and he always took, but today it was a bit awkward. He knew Etho just wanted to help him, but he wasn’t fond of his friend meddling in his love life, or lack of one.

They got to school and were about to part ways when Beef stopped. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Right next to his locker stood his crush. The one he had liked for a long time now: PauseUnpause. 

“What gives?” asked Etho.

Beef attempted to answer, but he couldn’t get the words out.

“Oh,” said Etho, noticing Pause.

“Why is he there?” Beef finally regained his voice.

“Take advantage of this opportunity, Beef! You said he doesn’t know you exist, make him know! For whatever reason, his locker is right next to yours now. Use that. Go talk to him!” Etho gave him a little push and Beef walked towards his locker. He turned around and Etho gave him an encouraging smile. Beef became more confident in his walk to his locker.

I can do this. He’s just a guy. A really cute guy. No need to feel intimidated and oh no he’s looking at me with those gorgeous brown eyes oh no what do I do? I can’t do this.

He was about to turn away and come back later when Pause said, “I’m sorry. Am I in your way?”

“N-no.” Find your words, Beef. “This is my locker right here.” He pointed at it. Ah, that probably looked so stupid. Way to go!

“Ah, well hello, locker buddy! The name’s PauseUnpause.”

“I know,” said Beef. “You’re Class President.”

“Oh right,” said Pause. “Well, I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you.”

“My name’s VintageBeef, but people call me Beef.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Beef!”

“You too!” Beef smiled nervously.

“I’ll see you around, okay? I’ve got to get to class.”

“Okay. Bye!”

Once Pause had left, Beef checked his watch. He had five minutes. He looked over to where Etho had been and he was gone, but he didn’t mind much. He had just had an actual conversation with PauseUnpause!

Etho:

Etho sighed as he took his seat in his first class. He didn’t know why he kept doing this to himself. He didn’t know how long he had liked Beef, but he knew it was longer than they had even known PauseUnpause. The name in his thoughts came out as if it were a dirty word.

He knew he was a hypocrite. He knew he just gave Beef advice that he himself would never take. He wanted to see his friend happy even if that meant he had to hurt. He had always done a good job hiding his feelings and he didn’t think that would change anytime soon.

It seemed the talk he had with Beef this morning had helped as he was talking to Pause when Etho left to get to class. The class he was in was dragging by at an unbearably slow rate. If this was how the beginning of the school year was like, he shuddered to think of what it would be like when they were close to getting out.

He found himself doodling in his notebook. He was so done with school already, even though it was the first day. He was looking forward to getting on with his life, to meeting new friends. Of course, he loved Beef, but that was the problem. He valued their friendship, but he didn’t think it could continue with him feeling like this. He would come up with some excuse to tell Beef later on. 

The bell rang and Etho was relieved. He hated feeling all mopey and down in the dumps, even though he brought it on himself for thinking about Beef too much. He told himself he could get over his feelings for Beef, that they were nothing, but that was just him lying to himself and he hated that too. He hated how what his heart wanted came in between what his brain told him he wanted and usually won.

Etho, not looking where he was going, too distracted by his thoughts, ran into something. He looked up. Or rather, someone.

“Ow!” said a boy who was sprawled on the ground. The boy was shorter than him, but then again most were, and he had short brown hair. He leaned down, offering his hand to help the boy up. He opened his mouth to apologize when he noticed something very peculiar. 

“You have purple eyes,” he blurted out without even thinking. 

The boy gave him a strange look. Great, way to go, Etho. Scare off the new kid. Well, he assumed he was new. He hadn’t seen him around before and he was headed to the exact same senior-only class that he had been: English. 

“Yeah. I know,” said the boy who Etho realized was still looking at him weird after his sudden outburst.

Oh, I’m probably supposed to say something now, aren’t I? Clear the air?

“Listen, I’m really sorry for knocking you over just now. It was an accident. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

“Obviously,” said the boy with a playful smile on his face.

They walked into class and the teacher noticed Etho standing next to the boy. 

“Oh good, Etho. You’ve met him!”

The teacher got the class’s attention, “Everyone this is Nebris. He’s new here, so everyone be nice to him!”

She came up to Etho and said, “He needed someone to show him around. Are you up for the job?”

Etho felt it was only right considering how awkward things started out for the two of them. Plus, Nebris was kind of cute. 

“Sure,” said Etho. Maybe this year wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

Beef:

The day had flown by for Beef. He had been in a great mood ever since his brief encounter with Pause that morning. He and Etho had agreed to meet outside after school, like they always did, so they could walk home together. Beef and Etho lived right next to each other, so it was convenient for them to just walk. The walk, although not long, was not the shortest either and having a friend with him made it more pleasant.

Beef got to the spot before Etho, who showed up mere seconds later. He was surprised when he noticed Etho was not alone. Walking right beside him was a boy, chatting happily away. Etho laughed at something the boy said. 

“Hey, Beef,” said Etho when he reached him. 

“Hey! Who’s your friend?”

“Oh, how rude of me. This is Nebris. He’s new.”

“Hey,” said Nebris.

“Nice to meet you.”

“And you!” Nebris returned. 

“I ran into Guude on the way here, Beef,” said Etho. “He said he and Bdubs were headed to the MindCrack and that we should come too.”

The MindCrack was a diner that was a frequent hangout place for Etho, Beef, and their friends Guude and BdoubleO, or as everyone called him, Bdubs. 

“Okay cool.”

“You coming too, Nebris?” asked Etho.

“Uh sure.”

Beef was kind of disappointed. He was hoping to talk to Etho about Pause and he felt weird talking about that in front of a stranger. He was also kind of jealous of how chummy Etho had been acting with Nebris. He wasn’t used to having to share his best friend. No, stop being ridiculous, Beef. It’s good Etho found another friend. 

He put on a smile. “Alright should we go then?”

The MindCrack was not busy, but then again, it hardly ever was. Beef spotted Guude and Bdubs at a booth near the back. It appeared Guude was teasing Bdubs about something because his face was bright red and he was attempting to yell out a comeback, but it was very unsuccessful.

Beef decided to intervene to Bdub’s behalf although he knew it wasn’t necessary. Guude and Bdub’s relationship had always been like that and it seemed to work well for them. They had been together since the start of sophomore year. 

“Leave the poor guy alone, Guude.”

Guude turned to face Beef, “Hey, Beef. I’m glad you could make it. Hey, Etho, hey, guy…” he said to Nebris.

“This is Nebris, Guude. Guude, Nebris.”

“It’s good to meet you!”

“You too!” said Nebris.

“Well don’t just stand around! Grab a seat!”

Guude turned to Beef, “Heard you actually talked to Pause.”

Beef gave Etho a look. Etho put on an innocent face, but then laughed.

“Yeah…” said Beef, not really wanting to get into it.

“And?” asked Bdubs. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but who’s Pause?” asked Nebris.

Beef looked at him, a grateful look on his face. 

“He’s only the senior class president that Beef is madly in love with.” Guude said.

“Well, I wouldn’t say-,”

“He’s all you ever talk about practically!” Etho said.

“So what happened?” Bdubs asked eagerly.

“Nothing really. He has the locker next to mine. He referred to me as his locker buddy. He asked me my name and then he had to leave for class. That’s it. That’s literally everything that happened.”

“Oh,” said Bdubs looking disappointed. “Well, that’s progress! You used to not even be able to look at him without hyperventilating.”

“That is not true!” Beef said defensively.

“It is so true and you know it!” Etho teased and gave him a push. 

Beef was bright red at this point. “Let’s change the subject. Nebris, how are you?”

“Um good, I guess.”

“Good, good.” 

Etho started laughing. 

“What?”

“Nice subject change.”

“Shut up! Why don’t you guys ever tease someone else?”

“Because you’re so fun to tease,” Etho replied. 

“Tease someone else! How about Nebris? He could be fun to tease!”

Nebris: 

If there was one thing Nebris hated, it was having people call attention to him. He really didn’t like standing out, especially in a group of people he had only met. 

“Nebris is new!” Etho said. 

“So?”

“So I don’t have anything on him yet,” Etho replied.

Nebris looked worriedly at Etho. Etho winked at him. “I’m just messing with you, Nebris.”

That didn’t reassure him.

Hours passed, with the guys chatting and laughing happily. They all evidently had a lot to catch up on from the summer. Nebris just listened, attempting to fit in with Etho’s energetic group of friends. He liked having a group to hang out with already after only one day, but boy would they take some getting used to. Guude was a very loud person who had a crazy, contagious laugh, but Nebris could tell that he had a good heart especially when interacting with his boyfriend, BdoubleO. Nebris could tell that they really loved each other despite their constant bickering over silly things. BdoubleO was very silly, but seemed to be the go-to guy if anyone had a problem. Beef, well, Beef seemed, Nebris didn’t really know any other way to describe him, but that he was an asshole. He would often make the conversation about him, Nebris noticed, and the other guys had been right when they mentioned that all he ever talks about is Pause. He didn’t know how that didn’t drive Etho crazy. 

Etho left to go to the bathroom and Guude and BdoubleO went to get refills on their drinks. Nebris was left alone at the table with Beef. Nebris really didn’t like the uncomfortable silence between them, but he had no idea what to say. He really wasn’t one for making small talk.

“So,” he said clearing his throat, “How long have you known Etho?”

Beef turned to face him. He appeared to be shocked that Nebris was talking to him.

“I’ve known Etho ever since I was little, like five years old,” Beef said. “We are next-door neighbors. Have been for several years. Freshman year, we met Bdubs and Guude and the four of us have been hanging out here ever since. We’re a pretty tight little group.”

Nebris got the feeling that Beef was implying he was not welcome here. This, along with his initial impression of Beef, made him really not want to have to interact with him, but he was Etho’s friend, so he felt he should give him the benefit of the doubt.   
Etho came back then and Beef put on a smile. He started talking to Etho about a new computer game he wanted to play and then, Nebris could’ve sworn that Beef turned and gave Nebris a smug look. Maybe he was going crazy, but it seemed like Beef saw him as a threat or something which Nebris thought was a little silly. Of course, he wasn’t brave enough to confront Beef about it, but he wasn’t here to “steal” Etho away from him. All Nebris wanted was a friend and Etho had been really nice to him.   
He looked at his watch. It was six o’clock. He didn’t realize how much time had passed. His parents would be expecting him home soon. When getting ready to move, he had sold his car and until he could afford to get another one, he would have to walk everywhere. Luckily, he now lived in a small town and most places were within walking distance from each other. 

“I-I really should be going.”

“I’ll walk with you,” Etho offered. 

“Okay, sure,” he smiled. He noticed Beef shooting him a dirty look which wiped the smile off his face. 

Once outside, he worked up the courage to say, “I get the feeling your friend Beef doesn’t like me very much.”

“Really? What makes you say that?”

“When you were in the bathroom, he made some comments that made it seem like I wasn’t really welcome to the group and when you offered to walk with me just now, he gave me a dirty look.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll talk to him about it.”

“Oh,” Nebris got nervous. That would probably only make him madder. “That’s not necessary.”

Etho turned to face him. They both stopped walking. “Nebris, I want you to feel welcome to the group. If Beef is being anything less than welcoming to you, then that is not acceptable and needs to be changed immediately.”

Nebris began to wonder. Was this really how Etho acted, very formal and polite? Or was this to make up for this morning?

“Listen, if this is about this morning, you don’t have to-,”

“I want to be your friend, Nebris. Yes, we got off on umm, well, weird terms, but that doesn’t change that.”

Wow. He had never met anyone so kind-hearted, someone who seemed to really care about him, someone so real. And he managed to demonstrate all that in only one day. 

“I want to be your friend too. This is the place,” he said regretfully.

“Oh. Okay. Well, have a good night!”

“You too!”

He got inside and after a nice dinner, he went to his room and plopped down onto his bed to think about his day. His thoughts kept drifting to Etho despite his numerous attempts to think of something, anything else. Etho was cute, that was for sure. He had a really nice voice. Was it possible to fall for someone so easily like this? Certainly in several romance novels, it seems as if the protagonist falls in love with his or her love interest quickly, but that was fiction. Real love didn’t work like that. 

There was a knock on his door, bringing him back to reality. His mom peeked her head into his room and asked, “May I come in?”

“Of course.”

She came in and sat at the foot of his bed. “How was your first day?”

“It was great!”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I made a friend and he invited me to hang out with his friends today.”

“Oh. That’s great, sweetie! I was worried the move would be hard on you-,” 

Nebris was used to moving. His family had moved several times throughout his life and most moves he didn’t even bother trying to make friends or get comfortable, knowing that as soon as he started to get the hang of their new home, he’d only have to leave again. But compared to the struggle that was trying to make friends, moving was the easy part. No, Nebris wasn’t worried about the move itself. Every place he lived brought further disappointment and loneliness. Each time, he was viewed as an outcast and most kids didn’t even give him a second glance. The fact that Etho had talked to him and even seemed to take an interest in him not only shocked Nebris, but gave him hope that this place would be different. 

“I know things have been hard on you since-,”

Nebris cut off his mom’s sentence before she could finish.

“Mom, please. I don’t want to talk about her.” Nebris knew exactly where his mom had been going with that statement. The past was the past and something he really did not want to dwell on. 

“I’m sorry. I’m glad it went well!”

“Thanks.” He attempted to stifle a yawn, not wanting to be rude.”

“Well, I’ll let you get some sleep. Sweet dreams, Nebs.”

“Good night.”

Etho:

He knew what he had to do and if it only made Beef angry, too bad. He needed to hear what he had come to say. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He hoped it wasn’t too late to be doing this, but Beef’s mom was not that strict when it came to curfews. Surely this applied too. 

The door opened and Beef’s mom said, “Oh, Etho, honey! How great to see you!”

“I’m very sorry that it’s kinda late and it’s a school night…”

“Oh, it’s not that late! Come on in! I assume you want to talk to Beef?”

“Yes please.”

“Beef,” she yelled up the stairs. “Etho’s here to see you!”

Etho was starting to get nervous. He had never done anything like this before. He tried to avoid conflict as much as possible, but he was also very loyal to his friends and when one of them was not being treated as he should, he felt it necessary to step in on his behalf. Beef came down the stairs and Beef’s mom said, “I’ll leave you two to talk.”

Beef looked at Etho for a bit before Etho spoke,

“I have something I wish to discuss with you.”

“Well, I assumed so. You never come over here at this time unless you do.”

Etho decided to just start right out with it. “Nebris told me you weren’t very welcoming to him today. He said he got the impression you don’t like him very much.”

“Oh so he went crying to mummy about it?”

“No. He spoke to me about it.”

“Exactly my point.”

Etho ignored that jab at him and continued, “He’s my friend. He needs to be treated with respect.”

“Friend? You’ve known him for a day!”

“And yet I feel like I talk to him more than a person I’ve been friends with for years.”

“I talk to you.”

“Yeah. About Pause. It’s always about Pause. What happened to us talking to each other and just having a good time?”

“Don’t drag him into this. This is about our friendship!”

“Yeah, our friendship that you constantly make about him.” 

Etho felt his voice raising. He needed to calm down, but too late the words were already pouring out of his mouth. 

“Why don’t you just go tell him how you feel because I’m pretty sure all of us are tired of hearing about it? I know I am!”

Etho knew he was being a jerk, but once the words came out, he couldn’t stop them. He had been bottling up these thoughts for months now.

“I miss the old Beef, but lately all you can talk about is Pause and how much you love him when all I wish was that you would notice me,” 

Etho paused, weighing his options in his head. He could tell Beef and maybe he’d reciprocate or he could just keep quiet and let it go. He thought about, really thought about it and decided he really didn’t want to deal with all the pain anymore. He was gonna tell him! 

“I should have just told you,” Etho said more for his sake than Beef’s. “It’s my own fault. I’ve been holding it in for so long and I was foolish thinking I could help you be happy with Pause because all it’s done is make me miserable.”   
Beef looked at him confusedly. “What?”

Etho drew nearer to him and Beef’s eyes widened, “Eth-,”

Etho kissed him, but Beef quickly broke away. 

“I love you, okay? I’ve loved you for a long, long time. I could just never say it and now it’s out.”

Before Beef had a chance to respond, Etho was out of there. Etho walked in his house, ran up the stairs, got into bed, and cried until the tears just stopped coming. 

Beef:

What just happened? Beef thought. I imagined that, right? There’s no way Etho just said- oh no, oh no. How could I have not realized? Oh, I’m a terrible person. But I don’t feel the same way. Not at all. Oh my goodness, what do I do?!

“Mom!” Beef yelled.

“What is it, dear?”

“I need your help. I don’t know what to do. Etho just- well, he just told me he loves me.”

“Oh my. What did you say?”

“I couldn’t say anything. I was shocked and he left right after saying it.”

“Well, honey, you just have to tell him the truth.”

“But, I don’t want to hurt him.” It’s a little late for that, Beef. 

“I know, but you’ll hurt him more if you’re not honest with him.”

“You’re right.”

Beef went to bed. I’ll just go talk to him tomorrow morning, he thought.

He was reluctant to get up the next morning, but remembering what happened last night and that he had to talk to Etho, he jumped out of bed. 

Etho wasn’t waiting for him outside like he usually was. Did I beat him? I never beat him. 

He walked next door to Etho’s house and knocked on the door.

Etho’s mom answered the door. “Good morning, Beef.”

“Good morning! Is Etho here?”

“No, he’s not. He seemed to be in a hurry to leave this morning. Did he not tell you?”

“No.”

“Oh, I’m sorry…Excuse me for asking, but did something happen between you two?”

“Uh, yeah. We had a bit of a, um, fight yesterday.”

“I thought so. He got all defensive when I asked him if something was wrong.”

That was so like Etho. He hated people seeing him upset. Which means he was still upset about last night. I don’t blame him. He’s right. I haven’t been acting like a very good friend to him the past few months. 

“Well, thanks anyway.”

“No problem! I hope everything works out okay between you two.”

“Me too.”

Beef got to school and went to his locker. Pause was there already.

“Hey, locker buddy! Beef, right?” He remembered my name! Beef felt really guilty for feeling so excited, but he couldn’t help it. It was still taking a while for it to sink in that he was actually talking to his crush. 

“Yeah. How are you?”

“Lovely! And yourself?”

“I’ve been better.”

“Aww. Cheer up, Beef! I’m sure whatever’s bothering you will end up okay! But if you need someone to talk to, I’m always available.”

Beef could barely breathe. He was being presented with an opportunity, just like Etho told him. He was going to take it. 

“Me and my friend usually hang out after school, but he’s leaving me to go hang out with his girlfriend,” said Pause, snapping Beef out of his thoughts, “Meet you here after school?”

Beef could only nod before Pause was gone. 

He headed to class his head full of so many emotions.

Nebris: 

Nebris had gotten up this morning actually eager to go to school. If it weren’t for Etho’s friendliness, he would’ve probably dragged his feet, but he felt like he had an actual friend and that made him excited. Nebris moved a lot and he hardly ever made friends, well, except for her…dang it, his mom bringing her up only caused him to think about her and he didn’t want to think about her. It only hurt him. He always moved too quickly to attach himself to friends, but his parents promised him they would be here for a while. After this year, it didn’t matter anyway. He’d be going off to college and could choose where he wanted to live himself. 

Nebris couldn’t wait until English. He sat next to Etho in that class which made it more tolerable. His first class passed quickly, much to his relief and he headed to English. He sat next to Etho and greeted him with a smile, but once he had a good look at him he realized he looked terrible. His eyes were all puffy and there were giant bags under them. 

“Etho?”

Etho looked at him.

“Are you okay?”

Etho only shook his head.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Etho shook his head again.

“Okay.”

All class Nebris’s thoughts were filled with nothing but theories of what could be wrong with Etho. He remembered that Etho had said he was going to talk to Beef about… Oh no! What if they had a fight because Etho tried to defend me?! But then he thought about it and he said to himself, don’t be ridiculous, Nebs. It probably doesn’t concern you at all and it’s definitely none of your business. He was going to start paying attention, but then another thought popped into his head. But aren’t you supposed to help your friends feel better when they feel sad? Nebris made it his goal to cheer Etho up. He didn’t know how he was going to do that just yet, but he was determined to try. 

He decided to try to find Guude. He figured wherever he found Guude, he would also find BdoubleO. The two seemed very…intimate when he had met them yesterday. At lunch, he searched around the cafeteria until he found them. They were alone and Nebris nervously approached them.

For Etho. I’m doing this for Etho, he kept reminding himself.

Guude looked up at him and said, “Hey! Neebris was it?”

“Nebris, actually.”

“Well, do you want to join us? Etho and Beef should be here soon.”

“Uh, sure.” Nebris took his seat. Before they could say anything, Nebris started, “I’m actually here to talk to you two about Etho.”

“Oh? You like him or something?” BdoubleO asked.

Nebris blushed. Not why I’m here. Would I really tell two people I barely know that information, even if I did…okay, so BdoubleO was right, but not the point. 

“BOO, don’t tease the poor kid. He’s only been here one day.” Guude said.

“No, nothing like that. Have you two seen him yet today?”

“No. Just yesterday when we were at the MindCrack,” Guude answered. “Why?”

“He was really upset about something, but he said he didn’t want to talk about it.”

Guude and BdoubleO exchanged worried looks. Just then, Etho came to the table. He put a smile on his face,that Nebris could tell was fake. He may not be good at reading facial expressions, but he just knew from looking at Etho’s face that that was the face of a man who was not happy in the slightest. 

“Hey guys,” said Etho.

Guude and BdoubleO’s worried expressions left their faces. They were much better at faking their emotions, Nebris observed. 

“Hey, Etho,” said Guude.

“Easy E, how ya doin’?” asked Bdubs.

Etho didn’t answer. He began nibbling at his food. Guude turned back to face Nebris and Nebris looked back at him. Guude gave him a sad smile and a shrug of the shoulders. 

“Hey, Beef!” said BdoubleO.

Nebris noticed how Etho tensed up at the sound of the name. So it did involve Beef. He didn’t think either Guude or BdoubleO had noticed that though because they continued talking to Beef as if nothing had happened. He turned to look at Beef. Beef was eating his lunch and he, also, was being rather quiet. Nebris observed that yesterday Beef had been sitting next to Etho. Perhaps Beef had purposefully avoided him today as he was sitting as far away from Etho as was possible.   
Halfway through lunch, BdoubleO turned to Etho and said, “Easy, you’ve been awfully quiet this lunch-,”

“Bathroom,” mumbled Etho and he stood up and walked away.

The remaining members of the table sat in awkward silence until BdoubleO spoke. “Well that’s odd. He’s not the most talkative, but I can usually get more than a couple words out of him.”

Nebris decided he would try to get to the bottom of what was going on between Etho and Beef because after observing both of their behaviors at lunch, something definitely happened the previous night. Looking right at Beef, Nebris took his chance,

“So, Beef, how are you?”

Beef:

Beef’s eyes widened. He didn’t like the look on Nebris’s face. It was almost as if he knew…but Etho couldn’t have told him, could he? Judging by how he acted and by what BdoubleO had said, Etho had been very quiet before he arrived. No, Etho didn’t tell him. Maybe he didn’t know. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Yeah, that’s it. The argument had started being about Nebris and ended up not being much of an argument, but more of a confession. He decided to quit worrying and nicely respond to Nebris. If Nebris still thought he hated him, he wanted to prove him wrong. He owed that to Etho at the very least.

“Fine, fine.”

“Good,” said Nebris with a smile. Again, Beef thought he saw traces of something else in Nebris’s expression, but he shook it off. He was acting ridiculous.

“Oh, hey, Nebris,” said Guude. “We’re meeting up at the MindCrack again if you wanna come.”

“Okay.”

“I can’t go today. I’ve got plans.” Beef said.

Bdubs said, “Oooh. What kinda plans?”

“Plans with Pause.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He said we could hang out after school.”

“Well, have fun!”

“I plan to.”

“Sounds like it’s just us three, Nebris, unless Etho comes, which I doubt,” said Guude. 

Beef laughed. “Ooh. Being a third wheel around those two. Fun times.”

“What do you think we’re gonna do? Make-out in front of him in a public place?” retorted Guude.

“No.”

“It’ll be fine! Right, Nebris?”

“Uh, yeah.” 

The bell rang, signaling the end to lunch. Beef noticed Etho had never come back. That got him a little worried, but he had to get to class, so there wasn’t much he could do. Beef couldn’t wait to talk to Pause after school. 

The rest of the day passed so slowly for Beef, but when the final bell rang, he was so relieved and excited. He got to his locker, gathered his things, and waited until Pause showed up. He did eventually and once he was ready, the two of them left. 

“So where are we going?”

“Uh, I was thinking we’d hang out at the MindCrack. Millbee and I always go there.”

Beef panicked. If his friends saw him there with Pause, he’d never hear the end of it.

“Could we possibly go somewhere else?”

“Uh, sure. Where do you wanna go?”

“There’s a place right next door, we could go there.”

Pause gave him an amused look, “Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to avoid someone?”

“Because I am,” Beef replied sheepishly.

“Oh, does it involve this morning?”

“Kind of.”

They sat down. Once they ordered, Pause said, “So tell me what’s on your mind.”

Beef told him the story leaving out the part about Etho getting mad at him for talking about Pause constantly, of course and Pause said,

“So now he’s acting really upset and not talking to anyone?”

“Yeah. Especially not me.”

“Well, give him time. Think about what it would be like to be in his shoes.”

Beef thought about that for a minute. If he had kissed Pause and admitted he loved him, he’d run out of the house too. He’d be extremely embarrassed.

“Wow. That really helped put things into perspective. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

The two talked a little bit more about random things, common likes and interests mostly, and then Pause said,

“Oh! I’ve gotta go!”

“Okay, see ya man!”

“Peace out, girl scout.”

“Huh?”

“Oh sorry. That’s just what I say instead of ‘goodbye’.”

“Oh, I see. Bye!”

Beef wanted to talk to Etho, but when he got to his house, no one answered the door. He sighed. I just wanna try to make things right. 

Guude:

Guude and BdoubleO just left the MindCrack for the day. They decided to take a walk in the park. The afternoon had been…interesting.

BdoubleO joined hands with him and he smiled. They walked in silence until BdoubleO asked, “What’s on your mind, Guude?”

“Nebris. What do you think of him?”

“Are you asking me because you see him as a threat or for another reason?”

Guude laughed. “No. I just thought it was kind of weird how every time I tried to bring him into the conversation, he quickly backed out of it.”

“Maybe he’s just shy. He’s only just met us and we do tend to come off a little strong.”

“That’s kind of shocking to hear you say, BOO. Usually you want to know every last detail about someone.”

“But not if they don’t want me to pry. With Etho and Beef, I knew they were dying to talk to someone about their problems, but I don’t get those same vibes from Nebris. I think we need to give him time to get used to us and then maybe he’ll open up a little more.”

“Wow, BOO. How thoughtful of you!”

“I just wish I knew what was wrong with Etho. I want to help him, but he’s shutting everyone out.”

“He started acting weird when Beef came to the table…”

“No, he was acting weird before that.”

“Do you think he’s told Beef about whatever’s bothering him?”

“Guude, I may like knowing things, but I’m not gonna go pressure his best friend to tell me things. That’s just not right.”

“He probably doesn’t know what’s wrong either. He’s been too preoccupied with Pause.”

“True.” BdoubleO concurred. “Etho probably isn’t too thrilled that Beef’s hanging out with Pause instead of him. Maybe that’s what’s bothering him.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

The two walked a little bit more before they had to head home. Guude was still thinking about the whole Etho situation. Something seemed off about the whole thing, but he wasn’t one to go asking questions. That was BOO’s job.

Etho:

It had been a week since that awful night. He had managed to successfully avoid every encounter with Beef possible. He could tell that he had Nebris worried and he felt bad about that, especially after he had said he wanted to be friends. He wasn’t acting very friendly and he knew it. 

It was Friday night, but he didn’t feel like going out. He sat at his computer and played some Minecraft, his favorite game. There was a knock on his door. Curious, he opened the door to his bedroom and there stood a very nervous-looking Nebris. 

“May I come in?”

“You may. Come on in!” Etho said as he sat on his bed. He patted the spot on the bed beside him and Nebris took the seat. 

“Etho, are you okay? I know I barely know you and so it might be weird that I’m here right now, but Guude and BdoubleO have been really worried, and I have too.” He said the last part quietly, so Etho had to ask him to repeat it.

“I have been worried too,” Nebris said shyly. 

“I don’t think it’s weird that you are here. I just think it shows that you care about me and that really means a lot to me. I’ve just had a bit of a tough week. It’s no one’s fault but my own because I made it tough for myself.”

“Please, I want to help you! Just tell me how!”

Etho sighed. He decided he would tell Nebris the truth about what had happened last week. 

Nebris:

Nebris watched as Etho sighed. He looked tired and although his appearance had improved from that second day of school, he still had massive bags under his eyes.

“After I walked you home that night last week, I went to visit Beef. After what you told me about his actions, I felt the need to go there and scold him for his behavior toward you.”

Nebris was about to say something when Etho cut him off. “I had been having problems with him for months now without him knowing, please do not blame yourself for this.”

Wow. Etho knew what he was about to say…

“It started with me being upset at him for the way he treated you and then, before I knew it, all of the thoughts I’d been bottling up for months just came pouring out. You see, I have been in love with Beef for years now and recently I had been helping him win Pause over. I do not know why I decided this was a good idea, but once I had started, I couldn’t stop. He’d get suspicious and I was too worried about him finding out, so I continued to help him. Pretty soon, all we talked about was Pause. I felt like all I was to him was a love consultant, not a best friend. But I didn’t say anything to him, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I continued to bottle up mine. Then the other night, when I said that all he ever did was talk about Pause and that I was sick of hearing it, he had the nerve to tell me not to drag Pause into the conversation, that the conversation was about our friendship. I lost it. I started talking about how I felt and then I, I kissed him and ran. I didn’t look back. I was, still am, embarrassed about it and I have been avoiding him ever since. That’s why I no longer show up to lunch. As for my friendship with you, I feel ashamed for not speaking to you. That first day, I thought if I spoke I would start crying again and I didn’t want to do that in school. I don’t know why I kept silent during the other classes. Probably because I thought it would be awkward and also I didn’t want to talk about this yet and I knew you would ask. Will you accept my apology?”

Nebris was shocked. All during that, Etho looked like he was trying to avoid crying again. All he wanted to do was comfort Etho. He would do anything to see his wonderful smile that he wore that first day of school. 

“Of course, I forgive you. Come here.” Nebris opened his arms up as if to give Etho a hug.

Etho hugged him back.

“If you need to cry, go ahead. I’m here for you.” 

Etho:

They sat like that for a long time, with Etho in Nebris’s arms. Etho just let the tears come. Even though the two didn’t talk, Etho found it wasn’t awkward at all. It was actually kind of nice. When he was done, he lifted his head up and looked at Nebris.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, Etho. You just had a bad experience, it’s perfectly normal to cry.”

“I don’t know how I can ever repay you for your kindness to me.”

“Don’t worry about it. That’s what friends are for, right?”

Nebris:

That statement made Etho smile for the first time that night. It wasn’t the smile Etho wore the first day he met him, but at least it was a smile. He looked around the room and noticed Minecraft pulled up on the screen.

“You like Minecraft too?”

“Yes. It’s my favorite game!”

The two boys talked about Minecraft until Nebris realized it was late and he had to get home. 

When he got home, he thought about the events of that night. And he realized something too. That Etho smelled really nice. 

Pause:

Pause had been extremely busy this past week. As senior class president, he had many activities to attend and students to greet. Even though school had just started a week ago, the student council was already planning Homecoming and in order for it to be good, Pause had to oversee the Homecoming planning committee meetings and make sure everything was going smoothly. He also had to keep his grades up and that meant focusing right from the beginning of the school year.

He also hung out with his best friend Millbee pretty much every day, except when Millbee had plans with his girlfriend. Pause was really happy that he had been able to get together with her, after all they were a cute couple, but he couldn’t help feeling really lonely. Sure, he knew a lot of people, and a lot of those people acted nicely towards him, none of them were really his friends. Perhaps that was why he had started talking to the boy with the locker next to him, Beef. 

To him, Beef had always seemed like a really nice guy, but he just had never had an opportunity to talk to him until he got assigned a broken locker this year and had to switch. After having only one real conversation with Beef, Pause could already tell that they had a lot in common. They both loved to play video games. When Pause found that out, he decided to invite Beef over to his house to play.

“Beef, Beef! Wait up!” yelled Pause after school on Friday. It had been a week since the beginning of school, but to Pause, it seemed longer than that. 

“What’s up, Pause?”

“I was wondering if you’d maybe like to come play video games with me at my house.”

“Sure. I’d love to.”

“Cool,” said Pause.

“Lead the way!”

“Alrighty!”

When they got to his house, he let Beef pick the game. They played for a while and then Pause said, “I’m kind of hungry, are you?”

“Yeah, I could eat,” said Beef.

“I’ll order a pizza.”

“How can you? You’re not eighteen yet,” Beef asked confusedly. 

Pause laughed. “Dude, they don’t care at all! I’ve ordered pizza many times and as long as they get a signature, they really don’t question age. I mean, sure, if it were like an eight-year-old they wouldn’t allow it, but I’m hardly an eight-year-old haha.”

The pizza arrived a little later and when they were eating, Beef asked, “Can I ask you a question?”

“You mean besides that one? Go for it.”

Beef laughed. “Shouldn’t your parents be home by now?”

“No. My parents work late.” Pause said with a sigh.

“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Does that bother you?”

“More questions, huh?” 

Beef looked embarrassed so Pause said, “I’m just teasing you, bro. Yeah, it does. I don’t understand why it’s necessary for them to work a lot. Money’s certainly not an issue. I think they don’t like me.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Because no matter what I do, I can’t please them. Straight A’s? Not enough. Senior class president? They don’t even notice. I’m trying my hardest to please them, but nothing works. Maybe I don’t want to be involved in all of that shit. Maybe I just want to live my life the way a normal teen does. I don’t party because I think that would displease them. I don’t drink. I do cuss, but not in front of them. Sometimes I think if I did those things at least I would have their attention, even if it would be them only yelling at me not to. I’m sorry you probably didn’t want to hear me bitch about my parents.”

“No. It’s okay.”

“So what about your parents? I hope for your sake they aren’t anything like mine,” Pause said with a smirk.

“Well, my dad died when I was really young and I don’t remember much about him, but my mom is great. She and I do everything together and she’s always been there for me.”

“Oh my goodness! I’m sorry about your dad! I didn’t mean to upset you if I did.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

There was an awkward silence, so Pause decided to fill it. “Have you talked to Etho yet?”

“No. I’m really concerned. He’s still avoiding me and I just want to fix things. Every time I go over to his house, he’s conveniently ‘not there’. I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t want to be pessimistic, but is there really a way you can ‘fix’ this? I mean it sounds like he was crazy for you and I know if it were me that would be extremely hard to go back into. Things would probably be awkward all the time. It’s nothing you did or he did, it’s just the way he feels.”

“That’s the thing, though. There was something I did. I have been a horrible friend to him lately. I always asked him to help me with all my problems and he did, patient and kind as ever, and I took advantage of him. It came to the point where I just expected it and gave absolutely nothing in return. I don’t blame him for avoiding me. If I were him, I’d avoid me.” 

“Beef, at least you are willing to admit you made a mistake. At least you are making an effort. A lot of people would have just said ‘forget him’ and moved on, but you didn’t. You aren’t giving up on your friendship. Surely that means something.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For helping me.”

“Hey, it’s cool, man. We can help each other out.”

“Absolutely!”

“Well, I’m sorry to do this, but my parents will be back soon and I’ve got to clean up, so I think we have to call it a night.”

“Okay. See you around! Thanks for inviting me!”

“No problem!”

Beef left and Pause cleaned up. He felt it was extremely unnecessary, as the house was basically spotless, but he knew his mother would throw a fit if he didn’t, so like the good son he was trying to be, he did it. 

His parents came home, had a brief conversation with him, and then went off to bed. Pause texted Millbee, but he didn’t answer, so he just went to bed. 

BdoubleO:

Monday of the second full week of school arrived. BdoubleO woke up, eager to start another day. He got to school early so that he could talk to Guude, it had become a ritual basically over the years. The first half of the day went by in a flash and it was time for lunch. When he got to their usual lunch table, he was both surprised and pleased to see Etho there, chatting with Nebris. He didn’t want to embarrass or call attention to him, though, so he didn’t point it out. He simply said, “Hey, guys,” and then began eating his lunch. 

Pretty soon Guude arrived and the four of them entered into a conversation about Minecraft. A few minutes after Guude showed up, Beef arrived with Pause next to him. “Hey guys, I hope it’s okay that I invited Pause to join us.”  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nebris whisper something to Etho and Etho laughed. Hmm. I wonder what’s going on there…

BdoubleO was a huge gossip and he had a thing for matchmaking. A passion, really. His friends often thought him meddlesome, but he only did it when he thought something could come of it. He decided to keep an eye on Etho and Nebris for the rest of lunch and continue to do so until he got some answers about whether or not there was something going on between those two or not. 

“No problem,” said Guude. “Welcome!”

“I’m sorry about this. Normally I would sit with Millbee, but he’s sitting with his girlfriend and a bunch of her friends and it’s awkward.”

“Well, no females here, except Etho,” said Guude.

Nebris began staring daggers at him. “Dang, I was just kidding, man.” 

“It’s perfectly alright, Guude. I know a good joke when I hear one,” said Etho. 

Nebris relaxed a little bit. Okay, I am not imagining this. Something is totally going on between those two. 

“Why so smiley, Bdubs?” Etho asked. 

“No reason. Just content with life.”

The rest of lunch BdoubleO tried to figure out ways to get Etho to tell him what was going on between him and Nebris. Like he had told Guude, he still didn’t know Nebris all that well and he didn’t want to be overbearing. Etho, on the other hand, had approached him numerous times regarding his problems, and he had no doubt that if something was happening between them that he would be one of the first people to hear about it. 

After school that day, BdoubleO decided to ask Guude if he had noticed anything strange happening during lunch.

“BOO, you know I don’t pay enough attention to have noticed anything like that. Why? What did you see?”

“Well, let’s just say I have a feeling a couple of our friends are going to get together.”

“Oh, come on, BOO, that’s not fair,” Guude whined. “Tell me! Tell me!”

“I don’t know anything for sure…”

“Okay, now you’re just trying to make me mad.”

“Maybe…” He dodged Guude’s swat and planted a kiss on his cheek. “You know you love me.”

“Yes I do, but I’m still upset you won’t tell me.”

“If and when I get confirmation of my theory, I will tell you.”

“Fine,” said Guude. 

Etho:

Etho and Nebris walked to the MindCrack together after school that Monday. They were determined to beat Guude and Bdubs there, for once. 

Etho’s thoughts were consumed with the day’s events and then he thought about what had happened at lunch.

“Thank you,” Etho said to Nebris.

“For what?”

“For defending my honor at lunch today.”

“Oh. That. I was afraid you were still a little sensitive from, well…”

“You can say it.”

“Beef showing up with Pause.”

“Thanks for distracting me too.”

“No problem. Once I saw them, I had to act quickly. I know you don’t want anyone else to know, especially not him.” Nebris paused and then said, “And now it’s my turn to thank you.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“You trust me enough that you told me what was bothering you. I had only known you for a week.”

“You’re different.”

“I am?”

“It’s easy for me to talk to you. You’re not like Bdubs or Guude. Sure, Bdubs is approachable, but he’s entirely too nosy for his own good. And Guude makes light of serious situations. It’s just his personality.”

Etho and Nebris got to the MindCrack and they were greeted by Guude, BdoubleO, Pause, Beef, and another guy Etho did not know. 

“I will beat you here one of these days, Guude. Mark my words,” said Etho.

“Sure you will. What have you been doing? School got out a half an hour ago!”

“We walked here.”

“That must have been one slow walk.” Guude responded. 

Etho felt someone was staring at him. He looked over and it was Pause. Why is he staring at me? 

Once he looked back at him, Pause stopped staring and started talking to the other guy who he quickly found out was Millbee. 

Etho found he wasn’t really having a good time. He knew he should just relax and try to have fun, but he found it very hard with Beef laughing and having a good time socializing with Pause. Beef looked up at him and smiled and he realized this was the first time he had had eye contact with him since the night he told him. He was so used to running away every time Beef got close to him, but Nebris wouldn’t let him. “You are bound to run into him. He lives next door to you and you guys go to the same school, but that shouldn’t stop you from having fun.”

Well, he certainly wasn’t having fun right now, but he knew Nebris had only been trying to help. 

Beef:

Another week passed and that Friday, Beef decided he would return Pause’s invitation. He even invited Millbee because he had become close to him too. The three of them headed to Beef’s house where they watched a movie and talked about various things. As it got later, the two just decided to spend the night.

“Won’t your parents be angry, Pause?” Beef asked, concerned.

“I don’t fucking care. They can be angry all they want. I’ve been working my butt off trying to get the preparations for Homecoming perfect and they don’t take any notice. They only notice if I fuck up.”

“Well, alright. It’s your funeral,” said Beef.

“Homecoming, that’s in a couple weeks, right?” asked Millbee.

“Let’s see, today’s the 30th of August and Homecoming is on the 21st of September, so it’s in three weeks and a day,” said Pause.

“Have you asked your girlfriend yet, Millbee?”

“No. I’m planning on doing it as it gets closer.”

“Have anything special planned?”

“Nah. I’m just gonna ask her. What about you two? Any plans to ask anyone?”

Beef looked at Pause, anxiously awaiting his reply. “No. I don’t really have anyone in mind.”

Beef said, “Yeah. Me neither.” I don’t even know why I thought there would be a chance he’d ask me. 

“Such a shame. Two sexy gentlemen as yourself would certainly be able to find dates.” Millbee said.

“No, what’s shameful is that you already have a date, Millbee. I would totally go with you.”

“Oh yeah. We would own that dance floor.”

Beef sighed internally. This wasn’t the first time these two had been flirting. In fact, it had been happening all night. Beef felt like a third wheel, and the two weren’t even dating! He thought Millbee seemed like a nice enough guy, but he was just ready for this night to be over. 

“You know what we should do?” Millbee asked. “We should play Truth or Dare.”

“Yeah. You in, Beef?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sure.” 

Several rounds passed with the guys doing silly things or answering very serious questions. Beef wasn’t really paying much attention, but he did whatever he was dared to do without complaint. The next round he decided to pick Truth instead.   
Pause asked him, “So, who do you like?”

…

No. Not this question. I will answer any question, but this one. I will do any silly thing you could dare me to do, just please don’t make me answer this question. 

“I don’t feel very well,” Beef said and he went outside and sat on his porch. 

In the past, whenever he had been sad or upset, he would go and sit on his porch to think. Often, Etho would join him and although the two didn’t talk, just the fact that Etho was there comforted him. Of course, now Etho was avoiding him, but he couldn’t help wishing it was a simpler time. A time when he and Etho were just friends, but now Beef realized when he thought they were simply friends, Etho was secretly wishing they were more.

He looked over and noticed that Etho was out sitting on his porch too. Seeing Etho over on his own porch, head in hands, made Beef miss his best friend. He regretted not treating him well. Even though Etho didn’t look like he wanted to talk, Beef felt he had to try. It had been two weeks, but he had never been able to talk to him alone. 

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” said Etho.

“What’s up?”

“Just thinking, you?”

“Me too.”

“About a couple weeks ago…”

“Please, I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

“Hear me out, please?”

Etho nodded.

“I am so, so sorry that I acted like such a horrible friend to you. I feel terrible. I am going to try better from now on. I meant to tell you this last week, but I could never find you.”

“Beef,” Etho said, hurt in his eyes, “I can’t be your friend anymore.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I just can’t…handle it. I have tried to move on, Beef, to forget about my feelings and just be your friend again, but I just can’t. Remaining your friend would just be too painful for me, please understand.” Then before Beef could say anything, Etho got up and went inside his house.

Beef just sat shocked. He had been friends with Etho for what seemed like ever and now all of a sudden, it was just….over? Pause had been right. He couldn’t fix their friendship. Sure, he had Pause and Millbee for friends now, but it wasn’t the same. Beef started to feel a pain in his stomach and he vomited in his front yard. All the nervousness from the Truth or Dare question and then how worked up he was getting about what Etho had just said must have really gotten to him. 

“He wasn’t kidding,” said Millbee behind him. 

He turned around and Pause and Millbee were standing behind him. 

“I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to ruin the party.”

“No, don’t be ridiculous, Beef. You’re sick! You need to get in bed now! We’ll leave now so as not to disturb you.” Pause said. 

“Thanks. I’ll make it up to you guys someday.”

“Okay, but that’s not what matters right now. What matters is that you feel better!” said Pause. 

Once they left, Beef headed upstairs and as soon as hid head hit the pillow, he was asleep. 

Etho:

He had done it. He had talked to Beef after two weeks of trying to avoid him. It didn’t make him feel better though, like he had thought it would. He knew it was for the best. He wouldn’t get hurt anymore and Beef wouldn’t have to worry about hurting him, if he even cared. Don’t be like that, Etho. Of course, he cares. Right? I mean he has to. I was his friend for so many years.

He called Nebris. Nebris had always been able to cheer him up, ever since that night when he was over. 

“Hey, Nebris?”

“Hey, Etho. What’s up?”

“I talked to Beef.”

“… What happened?”

“I told him that I couldn’t be his friend anymore.”

“Oh. Wow. Is that what you want?”

“I feel like it’s the only thing I can do. I thought two weeks of not talking to him and avoiding him as much as possible would help dull my feelings, but as soon as I saw him, it all came back. I don’t want to be constantly worrying about him worrying about if he’s hurting me. And I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

“Of course not! That makes perfect sense.”

Nebris was always so supportive and caring for him. Etho only wished he could be the same for him, but every time he asked Nebris about his past or what his life was like in Pennsylvania, where he had moved from, he shut down. He didn’t want to push him, but he felt the relationship was a bit one-sided. He felt like he talked a lot and he wanted Nebris to feel like he could talk to him as well. Every time he said that though, Nebris only nodded before abruptly changing the subject. It made Etho quite worried about him. He didn’t feel like he really knew him at all, even though he was hoping they were getting closer after last Friday.

Monday, at lunch, things got a little weird. Pause was talking about how busy he was working on Homecoming preparations and then BdoubleO and Guude talked about their plans for dinner before the dance. But that wasn’t the weird part. After doing that, BdoubleO turned to Etho and asked,

“What about you, Etho? Any special plans for Homecoming?”

The question was innocent enough, but there was something in BdoubleO’s expression that Etho did not like. It was almost as if he expected the answer to be yes.

“No…not really. I haven’t really thought about Homecoming at all, actually.”

BdoubleO’s face fell. “Oh. You’re still going, right?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. You know I don’t like dancing.”

“Oh, Etho, come on! You have to go!”

Why was BdoubleO being so pushy about this? Does he think I would ask Beef or something? To be fair, Nebris was the only one besides Beef who knew what had happened between them. Etho just hadn’t felt like telling Guude or BdoubleO. 

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”

BdoubleO asked Millbee, who was sitting with them today too, what his plans were for Homecoming, moving the spotlight off of Etho, which greatly relieved him. 

Well, I was thinking about asking Nebris, but just as friends. I’m not sure if he’d want to go though because I don’t even know if he likes dancing. That’s how little I know about him. 

Pause:

“Oh my good gravy!” Pause uttered in exasperation. The dance was this Saturday and people were constantly coming up to him, asking questions about what should be where and Pause was feeling flustered. Why did I run for class president again? Oh yeah because it was a misguided attempt to please my parents. 

“Pause, are you okay?” Beef asked.

He had remembered he’d agreed to hang out with Beef after this meeting. “Oh, hey, Beef. This meeting is running longer than I thought it would. Feel free to take a seat though.”

“Do you need some help?”

“That would be lovely.”

Pause got up to join him, but Beef said, “No. You sit. You look like you need a break.”

Pause heaved a sigh of relief and sat down in a chair. “I just can’t wait until this is over.”

“It should be fun though! You’ll get to enjoy the dance that you worked so hard on!”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“Aren’t you excited for the dance?”

“Not really.”

“Why not?”

“It’s silly.”

“No, tell me.”

“Everyone gets so excited about having a date and going to dinner and having a great time and then there’s me…”

“Well, didn’t you ask anyone?”

“No. Well, there is someone I want to go with, but he’s probably not interested.” Are you, Beef? Are you interested in going with me?

“Well, why don’t you give it a shot? The worst he could do is say no, right?”

“You’re right.”

Pause got up and started working again. Beef’s right. I should just ask.. I’m gonna do it right now. 

“Hey, Beef?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you go to Homecoming with me?”

Beef:

Beef was so shocked, he dropped the stapler that he had been holding in his hand. Is he serious? He wanted to go with me?!

“Yes. I would love to!”

Calm down, Beef. It doesn’t mean anything. He could just want to go as friends. 

“Great!” said Pause looking pleased. 

They finished up their work and headed to Pause’s house for another night of video games and pizza. 

Etho:

Done. He was finally done. He had gotten an idea for how to ask Nebris to Homecoming over a week ago, but he knew it was going to take a while, so he had worked on it in any free time he had in the past week. 

Now, his final step was inviting Nebris over. Hopefully he was at home…

“Is something wrong, Etho?” Nebris asked anxiously when he picked up the phone. 

“No, nothing’s wrong, Nebris. I just wanted to invite you over to hang out.”

“Oh. Okay. I’ll be right over!”

Yes! Commence plan!

Nebris arrived a little while later and Etho opened the door. 

“So what do you want to do?” Nebris asked.

“I don’t know. You’re the guest, we’ll do whatever you want to do.”

“Can we play Minecraft?”

“Of course!” Etho grinned. Yes, that’s exactly what I was hoping he’d say! 

Because Etho had an HD TV, multiple people were able to play Minecraft at once on the Xbox. They logged into a world they had created a few days ago while playing and Nebris gasped.

Nebris:

He couldn’t believe what was in front of him. As soon as he logged on, he was standing in front of a giant sign with 3-D letters that lit up, flashing on and off. That wasn’t the shocking part, though, he knew Etho was a genius when it came to redstone wiring. No, what was shocking was what the letters said: “Nebris, will you go to Homecoming with me?” 

He just sat there staring at it. He realized he should say something, but when he tried, words would not come out of his mouth.

“Is something wrong, Nebris?”

“I’ve never been asked to a dance before.”

“Oh,” said Etho.

“I would love to go with you, though.”

“Well, I’m honored to be your very first dance date.”

“I’ve never even been to a school dance before.”

“Really?”

Nebris nodded. “I don’t stay in one place for very long, and even when I did, I just never wanted to.”

Etho:

Well then, I know what I need to do. I’ve got to make this night really special for him. 

The next day, at lunch, BdoubleO said,

“I’m finalizing plans for Homecoming, so I need to know if anyone is going to join us for dinner.”

“My date and I would love to join you, Bdubs,” said Etho. He had already talked to Nebris and he had agreed to it. 

BdoubleO’s face lit up. “Date? You have a date now?”

“Yes. I was already planning on asking him when you interrogated me the other day, it just took me a while to finish how I was going to ask him.”

“Who’d you ask? How’d you ask him? Etho, I want details!”

Etho laughed. “Calm down, Bdubs. Nebris and I are going together and-,” 

“He made me a giant sign with flashing lights in Minecraft. It really surprised me,” said Nebris. 

BdoubleO:

“Aww. Adorable,” said BdoubleO. So, I was right! 

Guude gave him a questioning look as if to say “Was this what you were talking about?”

BdoubleO mouthed, “Later,” to him. 

Pause spoke up and said, “Sorry, Bdubs, but Beef and I will not be joining you. We are doubling with Millbee and Annette.”

“Well then, it looks like we’re doubling,” BdoubleO said to Etho, Nebris, and Guude. “This is gonna be so much fun!”

After school, BdoubleO made the reservations at the restaurant, making sure to have enough time to take pictures. It was their senior year, after all. 

Guude came up next to him while he was on the phone and once he was done, Guude asked, “How did you know?”

“The power of intuition.”

“Neither of them said anything to you about it?”

“Nope.”

“Did you ever find out what was bothering Etho last month?”

“No, but I’m guessing it involves Beef. Have you noticed they never talk anymore?”

“Yeah. I just assumed both of them were busy or something.”

“No, it’s not that. Something definitely happened, like a fight or something.”

“Aren’t you gonna find out?”

“Nah. I’m guessing Etho confided in Nebris instead. Which is fine.” BdoubleO said, pouting. 

“Come on, I still confide in you.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“I gotta go home, BOO. See you tomorrow!”

“Bye, honey.” 

Guude: 

The big day had finally arrived. The Homecoming dance. Everyone had been talking about it for weeks and Guude had been one of them. He was so excited. He was getting ready to go pick up BdoubleO when his parents stopped him.  
“Honey, we have something we need to tell you,” 

“Mom, can it wait? Tonight’s the Homecoming dance and I’ve got to go get BdoubleO, so we can aren’t late to the restaurant. The reservations are for six o’clock.”

“Of course, honey. Never mind.”

Guude saw the look on her face and he got worried. “What is it? Are you sick? What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing like that. Your father is being transferred. We leave in a week.”

What? Leaving? No, this couldn’t be happening. Not tonight. The night he had been looking forward to. The night that up until a few seconds ago, he thought nothing could ruin. 

“I’ve gotta go,” he said as he left the house before they could stop him. 

He put on a smile as he picked up BdoubleO from his apartment. 

I can’t show him anything’s wrong. I want him to enjoy his evening and I’m going to try my hardest to enjoy mine. 

“Hey, sweetheart.”

“You look great, Bdubs.”

“Aww thanks, cutie pie. You’re not so bad yourself.”

They headed to the restaurant, not really saying anything. They didn’t have to. They beat Etho and Nebris, no surprise there, and so they chatted until they arrived. Etho and Nebris came in and Guude noticed they both had a bit of purple in their outfits.

“Did you plan on matching or was that just a coincidence?”

“Oh. We planned it,” said Etho. “I wanted to make sure to bring out the purple in Nebris’s eyes.”

Guude laughed, thinking he was joking until he looked at Nebris and realized his eyes really were purple. 

“Oh, wow. How did I not notice that before?”

“Notice what?” asked Bdubs.

“Nebris’s eyes really are purple.”

“Wow. They are! That’s so cool!”

Nebris blushed. 

“How did that happen,” asked Guude.

“I don’t really know. All I know is that they’ve been like that ever since I could remember,” said Nebris.

Dinner was wonderful. It distracted Guude from the news his parents had thrust upon him right before he left. He couldn’t bear the thought of leaving BdoubleO, the one person who meant the world to him. He loved being friends with Etho, Beef, and now Nebris, Pause, and Millbee, but he could make new friends anywhere. Nowhere else would there be the love of his life. Long-distance relationships hardly ever worked and it terrified him to think of losing Bdubs. But they had to try. He was confident they would make it work, after all, they had been together for two years now. 

“Guude?” Etho asked.

“Huh?”

“It’s time to go take pictures.”

“Oh okay.”

Guude took Etho and Nebris’s couple picture and then Etho took their couple picture. They each took turns taking goofy pictures of the others and then they asked one of the waiters to take a group photo of them.   
Next, they headed to the dance. The decorations turned out great. I have to remember to tell Pause he did a wonderful job. I know he was worried it wouldn’t look good, but it looks great!   
The four of them had the greatest time dancing to all the fast songs. None of them felt all that comfortable dancing, but they just laughed and exaggerated their terrible dancing skills. Then a slow song came on and they broke off into couples.   
When Guude was in BdoubleO’s arms, he never wanted to leave them. It was there that he truly felt safe and he never wanted that feeling to go away, especially since he would be leaving in a week. When would he tell Bdubs and how would he react? 

The dance went by so fast. Soon it was time to leave and they left, holding hands. 

“I don’t want to go home yet,” Guude said to Bdubs.

“Alright. We can just hang out at my place,”

BdoubleO had emancipated himself from his parents a couple of years ago and had been living on his own ever since. Guude knew that it wasn’t a good situation and typically the two told each other everything, but that was the one thing he could never get BdoubleO to talk about. 

BdoubleO’s apartment, besides the MindCrack, was where the two spent the majority of their time together. Pretty much every Friday night since they had gotten together two years earlier, they had met there for their date night. Usually it was dinner (BdoubleO loved to cook) and a movie, but often the movie was ignored in favor of the two just talking. Guude loved those heartfelt talks they had. Thinking about all those wonderful moments they had shared made Guude sad. He didn’t want to leave this place he had lived his entire life and he certainly didn’t want to leave behind the one person who seemed to understand him perfectly. 

When Guude had made the comment about not wanting to go home, he was hoping BdoubleO would say that they could go to his place. He just couldn’t face his parents yet. He had a feeling he would be in trouble from the way he stormed out earlier and he didn’t want this wonderful night to end.

“I had a great time, Bdubs,” said Guude.

“Me too.”

They got to his apartment and went inside and BdoubleO said,

“Now that we’re alone, I feel like I can do this,” as he began kissing Guude. 

Guude tried to kiss him back, but he was just too distracted, thinking about how much he wished he wouldn’t have to leave.

Bdubs pulled back. “Guude, honey, what’s wrong? You seem really distracted.”

Tears formed in Guude’s eyes. “You know that I love you, right?”

“Of course!”

“Well, I have something that I have to tell you and you’re not going to like it.”

BdoubleO sat down. “What is it? Just tell me.”

“Before I left today, my parents told me we are moving next week.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to ruin the dance for you.”

“You can’t leave!”

“I have to.”

“Or do you?”

“What?”

“I have an idea. Come with me.”

Guude got in the car as Bdubs drove to…his house? What is he planning?

“Trust me,” said BdoubleO as he looked at him.

“I do,” said Guude. 

BdoubleO knocked on the door. His mom answered it. She looked surprised. 

“BdoubleO? Is the dance over already? Where’s Guude?”

“I’m here,” Guude spoke up nervously.

“I was wondering if I, we, could talk to you about something,” BdoubleO said. What is he gonna say?

“Of course. Come on in,” said Mrs. Boulderfist. 

“Guude was just telling me about how you guys have to move,”

“Yes. Next week.”

“Well, I, we, were thinking that Guude could come live with me at my place.”

Guude gasped. He hadn’t been expecting that. He didn’t think his parents would go for this at all, seeing as how he wasn’t eighteen yet.   
His mom went to go get his dad and the four of them sat together at the dining room table. His mom filled his dad in and his dad said, 

“Absolutely not.”

“Please, dad, I’m gonna turn 18 in a couple months and move out anyway.”

“You moving out is not the problem here. You wanna move out? Fine. Do it, but you can’t live with him.”

“Well, I don’t want to move, but nobody asked for my opinion on that. I don’t know how you can just expect me to pick up and leave my entire life behind. It’s my senior year and you expect me to move to a new school where I won’t know anybody? You expect me to leave behind my friends and more importantly, my boyfriend of two years whom I love? Please, I want you to be okay with this. I don’t want to lose you guys either.” 

His mom sighed. “Guude, honey, it’s not like we have a choice. Your father is very high up in this company and so we have to go.”

“Does he value his job more than he values his own son?”

His dad looked at him. “Of course, not, Guude!”

“Admit it. You’ve always been against me. You’ve always disliked Bdubs, even though he’s tried so hard to get you to like him. You hate me because I’m not what you wanted me to be.” 

His dad looked embarrassed. “Son, I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am, but please let me try. Yes, I pushed you away. We just didn’t have that much in common and I didn’t know how to talk to you. Of course, I feel awful about it, but I promise I will try to be better. I’m not saying no right now, but I have to think about it.”

“That’s all I ask,” Guude said. 

“Tell you what, why don’t we have dinner, all four of us, Monday night and we’ll talk about this some more then.”

“Okay,” said Guude.

His parents left the room and Guude turned to BdoubleO,

“Thank you for being here during that. I’m sorry that we fought in front of you like that, but it really means a lot to me that you were here.”

“Of course,” said Bdubs. “I will always be here for you,”

Guude got on the couch next to Bdubs and they just sat there, in each other’s arms, until they both fell asleep. 

Beef:

Beef was so excited. Any minute now, Pause would arrive to pick him up for the dance. He couldn’t believe it. After being scared to talk to Pause for so long, he had finally done it and now look at him! About to go to Homecoming with him!  
Pause knocked and Beef opened the door right away. Pause smiled and said, “Are you ready to go?”

“Yep!” 

They had made sure to make reservations at a different restaurant than BdoubleO’s were at to avoid Beef having to see Etho and everything being all awkward. They met up with Millbee and Annette and the four of them had a very interesting conversation about computers. Annette wanted to work with computers for a living and of course, the three guys were constantly on them playing video games, so they all knew a lot about them. 

Once they took pictures which Pause wanted to get over with because he said he hated them, they headed to the dance. The music was extremely loud, but Beef didn’t care. He was having a lot of fun dancing with Pause and Millbee and Annette. That is, until a teacher approached Pause and asked him to help her switch out the punch, which someone had spiked. Pause apologized, said he’d be right back, and left to quickly sort the issue out. Then, he had to help announce the Homecoming King and Queen.   
Beef was a bit disappointed. He had thought he would get to dance with Pause more than he had so far. He sighed. He knew Pause was going to have to go off and take care of his duties as class president when he agreed to go to the dance with him. He just wished he knew exactly what he thought of him. He was hopeful that with this invitation, that that meant Pause viewed him as something more than just a friend, but so far he had seen no signs of that. He knew he shouldn’t be complaining, after all, he was here with Pause, it just wasn’t exactly in the way he wanted to be. 

Pause came back and he said,

“I’m so sorry about that, Beef.”

“It’s no problem at all,” said Pause.

“Really? If I was you, I’d be kind of pissed.”

“No, I’m fine.”

A slow dance started and they began dancing. All of the thoughts Beef had had before went away. This was wonderful. It was way better than he ever imagined it would be. Just being here with Pause right in this moment was enough.  
“Hey, Pause, come dance with me,” said Millbee. “It’s tradition!”

Beef was angry, but he didn’t want to show it. 

“Sorry,” said Pause sincerely. “We have this thing where we dance together for one dance. We’ve done it ever since we were freshmen. Do you mind?”

“No. Go ahead,” said Beef, his words coming out angrier than he meant them to.

Pause apparently didn’t notice this and went to join Millbee. Beef watched them jealously. He really must like Millbee. He’d rather dance with him than me. 

The night ended and Beef was relieved. He had had fun at first, but then he must’ve let his jealousy consume him because the rest of the night was terrible. Pause walked him to his door. 

“I had fun, Beef. I hope you did too. I’m sorry about all the distractions!”

Yeah. Like you abandoning me to dance with Millbee.

“Yeah. It was great,” said Beef in what he hoped was a sincere tone.

“Well, see you Monday.”

“Yeah. See you.”

Beef ignored his mother’s questions and went to his room and locked the door. He sighed. I should have never become friends with Pause. I think I feel more hurt now that I’m closer to him than I did when I was just crushing on him from afar.

Nebris:

Nebris had to admit he was very excited for Etho to pick him up. This was to be his first ever high school dance and he even had a date! All the other times a dance came up, he either was in the process of moving in or out, or just had absolutely no desire to go. 

Etho arrived, wearing a black shirt with a purple tie, to match Nebris’s purple shirt and black tie. They thought it would be good to coordinate what they were wearing. Etho extended his arm and Nebris linked his arm with Etho’s. 

They arrived at the restaurant, later than BdoubleO and Guude, as usual, but it really didn’t make much difference to Nebris. They all complimented each other on appearances and just chatted happily. It was nice to see the three people he had come to regard as his closest friends all in one place, looking really happy. He wanted to keep this image with him, so once they were all done eating, he suggested they all go and take pictures. 

Guude and BdoubleO’s picture looked so cute. They were just sitting on a bench holding hands, their happiness evident in their eyes. 

Then Guude insisted that he and Etho take a picture together. This made him really nervous, but he agreed to it. He was about to pose normally, when Etho picked him up in his arms and held him. He laughed, which is when Guude snapped the picture. That’ll be an interesting picture. 

They goofed off for a while longer, snapping pictures when they were doing weird things or not looking at the camera until it was time to go to the dance. Butterflies appeared in Nebris’s stomach. He followed Etho inside and stood by his side, afraid to move. The gym looked really nice, Pause had done a good job. 

Dancing was not something Nebris was very comfortable with, but when he saw how much fun BdoubleO, Guude, and Etho were having, he decided he didn’t care what people thought of his horrendous dancing and he joined in. 

After a while, he became thirsty, so he excused himself and went to get a drink. This is really good. 

He grabbed another and then Pause showed up. 

“Nebris, don’t drink that!”

“Why? What’s wrong with it?”

“It has alcohol in it!”

Oh no! He had only had two drinks, but it was enough to make him feel whoozy. 

He wandered back over to Etho and Etho looked at him, concerned.

“Nebris, are you okay?”

“The punch was spiked, but I didn’t know and I drank some of it.”

“Define some.”

“I had two decent-sized glasses of it.”

“We’ve got to get you out of here.”

I feel really bad. I ruined everything. Now Etho will never like me. 

Etho drove him somewhere, but it wasn’t his house.

“Where are we going?”

“My house. You can stay there for the night. I’ll call your parents and tell them I asked you to spend the night after the dance.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

After Etho had called his parents and gotten their permission, he got Nebris a glass of water.

“Drink it. They say it helps reduce the hangover effects.”

“I feel so bad, Etho. I didn’t mean to ruin everything.”

“Nebris, you didn’t ruin everything!”

“I was so excited too. It was my first dance. And I didn’t even get to dance that much.”

“Can I ask you a question, Nebris?”

“Sure.”

“I tell you a lot of things and you help me, which I really appreciate, but every time I ask you anything about your past, you shut down. Why is that?”

“I don’t like to think about it.”

“Well, I won’t ask you anything else then. Get some rest, okay?”

“Wait, Etho-,” 

Maybe it was the alcohol speaking, but he felt a sudden urge to talk to Etho about it.

Etho turned around, “Yes?”

“Pennsylvania was the longest I had ever stayed in one place. I stayed there for two years.”

Etho sat down next to him and Nebris continued.

“Before that, my family moved constantly for my mom’s job. I never felt the need to get close to anyone because I figured I would just be out of there soon anyway. Besides, anytime I tried didn’t work out very well. Kids are cruel. I knew at a young age that I was gay, and didn’t really feel the need to hide it. A lot of times I was teased. I resented school and I resented my parents for making me attend. Not only did they constantly say mean things to me, but they also threw things at me, hid my stuff, and one time a kid beat me up. All of this scared off any kids who were considering being friends with me. Every time I moved, I was relieved to get out of there, only to find the same crap was happening to me at the next place too. Pennsylvania was the first time I actually made a friend. Her name was Trisha. She was beautiful and wonderful and everything I had always desired in a friend. When we entered our junior year, she became really depressed. She started avoiding everyone and eventually in mid-September, she committed suicide. I was devastated. Her parents asked me to speak at the funeral, but I couldn’t do it.” At this point, he was crying.

“I just sat there while everyone said nice things about her at her funeral. Kids I didn’t even know were coming up to me telling me how sorry they were. It irritated me because they didn’t know her. No one knew her like I did and she was just gone. Without her, the rest of junior year was miserable. I went back to not having any friends and I was lonely and upset at the world. The one time I had a friend, and she was just gone. The end of junior year was the worst. I was walking home from school one afternoon, as I often did, when a bunch of jocks saw me. They approached me and said horrible, nasty things to me. I just ignored them, knowing they would eventually go away. At least, that’s what had always happened in the past. This time was different. They got angry that I wouldn’t respond, wouldn’t even look at them. They all got around me and two of the guys held me down while their leader punched me. Repeatedly. My mom tells me I was lucky that I lived, but at that time all I wanted was to die. This past move couldn’t have come at a better time. Here I actually have friends. People are more accepting in general. I’m sorry I never told you any of this, but it’s hard for me to open up to people and it’s even harder for them to earn my trust. You’re special, I guess.” 

His eyes were starting to feel heavy and he let sleep overcome him, but not before he heard Etho say, “It’s okay, Nebris, we can talk tomorrow. Sweet dreams.”

Etho:

Etho had a lot of thinking to do about all the things Nebris had just told him. He had had a pretty miserable life from the sound of it. It made Etho sad because he had a feeling that if Nebris had not been drunk, he never would have shared those things with him. He wanted to help, but he didn’t know how. He decided to go to sleep because there wasn’t much he could do and worrying about him wasn’t going to help him.

Etho woke up to Nebris asking, “Do you have any Motrin?” 

“Head hurts, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure we have some Motrin. You go back to bed. I’ll bring it to you.”

“You don’t have to, oh alright,” Nebris said after Etho gave him a look.

Etho came in a little later with some Motrin, a glass of water, and some chicken noodle soup.

“You’re wonderful,” said Nebris. “I don’t deserve a friend like you.”

“Don’t say that. Of course you do!”

Nebris frowned. “How much did I tell you?”

“Quite a bit.”

“I’m so sorry. I guess I learned something today: I need to avoid alcohol.”

“It’s okay, Nebris. I’m not mad at you.”

“But you feel sorry for me, don’t you?”

Etho hesistated. “Uh,”

“It’s okay. Who wouldn’t after someone told them a story like that?”

“Nebris-,”

“Thank you for the soup. And the Motrin. I’m gonna sleep now.”

“Okay.”

Etho was a little hurt. He was only trying to be helpful. He selfishly hoped Nebris was only grumpy because of his hangover because he couldn’t stand the thought of him being mad at him. 

Nebris came out later that day, his hair all ruffled, which made him look adorable. He sat down next to Etho.

“I need to talk to you,”

“Of course. What’s up?”

“I am so sorry for the way I acted earlier. My head hurt and, I know that’s not a good enough excuse-,”

“It’s okay, Nebris.”

“I, well, I’m also still getting used to opening up again. It just scares me because the last time I did, she ended up dead.”

“Nebris, surely you don’t blame yourself for her death!”

“I should have seen the signs or something. I tried to talk to her once, but she told me to go away and so I did. What kind of friend does that?”

“You were doing as she requested.”

“I should’ve tried harder. She might still be alive if I had.”

The look on Nebris’s face broke Etho’s heart. “Sometimes people get to a point where they think no one can help them and that things will never get better. Even if you had tried harder, that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t have killed herself. I mean, I didn’t know her, of course, but-,”

“I get what you’re saying.”

“Listen, Nebris, you don’t have to worry about sharing things with me if you don’t feel comfortable. I’m sorry I ever asked yesterday. I just didn’t realize how upset it would make you.”

“No, talking’s good for me. It’s not healthy to bottle things up, but I always do.”

“Me too.”

“Well, I should probably be going. My parents are probably wondering where I am.”

“Do you feel better?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Once Nebris left, Etho got to planning. He had an idea…

Guude:

Guude was extremely nervous all day at school. He barely talked to anyone, his thoughts consumed with how dinner with his parents and Bdubs would go tonight. If they said no, he didn’t think he could bear it. He knew he had said he would stay here either way, but he knew he would be leaving with them if they said no and he didn’t know what he would do if that happened. 

“Guude, honey, calm down. Everything will be okay,” Bdubs said, taking his hand. 

“I don’t want to lose you, BOO,” 

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Yes, but if they say no-,”

“They won’t say no.”

“How do you know?”

“They’ll come around, you’ll see.”

Guude wasn’t convinced. His friends arrived at the lunch table, but he couldn’t bring himself to even fake a smile.

“Guude, what’s wrong?” asked Etho.

“His father got transferred and he might have to leave next week,”

“Might?” asked Nebris.

“If his parents agree to him moving in with me tonight, at dinner, then he’ll be able to stay. If they don’t, he will have to move with them.”

“Isn’t there something he could do if they say no?” Beef asked. 

“What, like run away?” asked Guude. “I wouldn’t do that to my parents. I love them and I don’t want anything to ruin our relationship either.”

“Well, good luck then!” Beef said.

“Yeah. I hope everything turns out for you two,” Etho said.

“Thanks.”

He didn’t feel like talking anymore, so he just listened as the others discussed Homecoming. He noticed Beef and Nebris were very quiet. He wasn’t really surprised about Nebris, the guy still didn’t talk all that much, but Beef’s quietness surprised him. He thought he’d be going crazy talking about how much fun he had. Pause wasn’t with them today, so surely Beef would be able to talk openly about being with Pause without having to worry about him hearing. 

That afternoon, Guude went to BdoubleO’s apartment and they talked until it was time to go to his house.

BdoubleO offered to knock because of how nervous Guude was. When his mother opened the door, she gave them a smile and greeted them.

“You look beautiful, Mrs. Boulderfist.” BdoubleO said. If he weren’t so nervous, that would’ve made Guude laugh. Oh, BdoubleO, always the sweet-talker.

“Why, thank you, BdoubleO. Don’t you both look so handsome!”

The table was already set. There was a bottle of wine on the table. This made Guude curious.

“What’s with the wine?”

“Oh, umm, well, we wanted to make this dinner special, so we put it out.”

Guude nodded.

His father entered the room. He had made the meal, fettuchini alfredo with chicken in it, garlic bread, and a salad. His father had always been an exceptional cook. 

They didn’t discuss moving at all during dinner. They kept up small talk which made Guude uncomfortable. Please just tell me already. I’m dying here. 

“That was wonderful, Mr. Boulderfist.”

“Why, thank you, BdoubleO.”

“You’re quite welcome, sir.”

“So, uh, now to the matter at hand,” said his father.

Guude’s nervousness doubled. Butterflies formed in his stomach and he was afraid to look at his father, but he did. BdoubleO grabbed his hand and they waited.

“Your mother and I have discussed it a lot and we have come to the agreement that you can stay here with BdoubleO.”

He gave a sigh of relief and let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in. BdoubleO gave him a quick hug, before his father started speaking again.

“You are almost 18, after all and we feel you will act responsibly. Besides, if you say you really love him-,”

“I do.”

“Then we wouldn’t want to be the ones to come between you two.”

“Thank you, mom and dad,” Guude said, tears forming in his eyes. He got up and went to hug them both. His father looked very surprised, but hugged him back.

“Now, who wants cheesecake?”

The rest of the evening was very enjoyable. His father made an attempt to get to know BdoubleO better and the two had a conversation about music. They discovered they had similar tastes and his father was excited to find out about BdoubleO writing music. His dad even got out his guitar and asked BdoubleO to play a song. BdoubleO performed his original song “Never Fear”, one of Guude’s favorites. 

At the end of the night, his father even shook hands with BdoubleO. Guude had never been more proud of his dad. He was actually making an effort. That’s all Guude had ever wanted. 

Pause:

Pause had been enjoying his Monday evening so far. He got his homework done and was watching TV when his mom came home.

“Pause, what are you doing watching TV on a school night?”

“I finished my homework, so I thought it would be okay.”

“Why did you think that? You could be reading or doing something more important than watching TV! I thought I raised you to be more productive!” 

This was not the first evening Pause’s good mood had been ruined by his mother or father lecturing him about some little thing. It had been happening a lot recently.

“I don’t know what you want from me!” Pause yelled exasperatedly. “I have straight A’s, I have for the past three years. This year, I am senior class President and I just spent the past month working on preparations for Homecoming, which was a huge success. I’m sorry I thought I could just relax a little after already doing everything you expect me to do! I’m only human! I am not perfect, but I am trying my hardest to be!”

Pause got up to leave.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Anywhere, but here!” he yelled as he slammed the door behind him. 

He called Beef. He hadn’t talked to him since Saturday, but he was hoping he was home. He really needed a friend right now.

Beef answered, “Hello?”

“Hi, Beef. It’s Pause. I was wondering if you had time to talk?”

“Why don’t you go to Millbee to talk? You obviously like him more than me.”

Where did this come from? Was this about Saturday? He thought Beef had been okay with that, he hadn’t acted angry at all. 

Before he could say anything, Beef hung up. 

He went to Millbee’s house, knowing he would be available. Annette had been very busy lately with a project she was working on and so the two of them had been spending less time together lately.

Millbee opened the door and said, “Hey, Pause. What’s wrong?”

“Can I have a beer?”

Millbee looked shocked. Pause should’ve known how shocking such a request would be coming from him, but he decided he didn’t care about pleasing his parents anymore. He had been doing whatever he thought they wanted him to for years, but he had never succeeded in pleasing them. Screw them, he thought. 

“Y-yeah, man. Of course. Come on in,” he grabbed a beer and handed it to Pause, asking,’

“What happened?”

Pause explained the argument he had just had with his parents and all the other angry thoughts he had had about them over the past few years spilled out.

“That’s fucked up, man. Good for you for storming out of there. No one deserves to be treated like that. Especially not you, who puts so much effort and hard work into everything you work on.”

“Thanks, Millbee. I just know I’m gonna be in a lot of trouble when I go home.”

“So don’t. You can stay here for tonight. And any other time, if you’d like.”

“Thanks, bro.”

Before he went to bed, he thought about Beef. What was wrong with him? Why did he snap at me? Did I do something to offend him? If I did, I didn’t mean to, but I’m not very good at noticing these things. If someone has a problem with me, they usually have to come right out and tell me. 

BdoubleO:

BdoubleO was very happy all the rest of that week. On Saturday, his one true love would be moving in with him and he could hardly wait. Saturday night, after Guude said goodbye to his parents and promised to call them often, he came to BdoubleO’s, their, apartment and started getting settled. 

“Guude,”

“Yes?”

“I think we should have a little get together with all of our friends to celebrate!”

“That’s a good idea, BOO! When?”

“Next weekend say Friday night?”

“Okay. Let’s talk to the guys on Monday and see what they say!”

Monday rolled around and BdoubleO enthusiastically shared the idea with Etho, Nebris, Beef, Pause, and Millbee. They all agreed that that was a great idea and they agreed to come. 

BdoubleO had to get the food, alcohol, and plan what the activities they would do would be.

“BOO, why are you so worried? They’re our friends. It’ll be fine!” Guude asked Thursday night, the night before the party. 

“I’ve never hosted a party where Nebris, Pause, or Millbee came. It has to be perfect.”

“Don’t work too hard,” Guude said. 

“I won’t. I promise.”

School ended Friday and BdoubleO rushed home to double check everything before people would start to arrive at 6.

Guude came in shortly after BdoubleO.

“Bdubs, do you need any help?”

“Nope. I got it all under control!”

Etho was the first to arrive. BdoubleO greeted him and he sat down on the couch. Soon after, Pause and Millbee came, then Nebris, and then finally, Beef. 

BdoubleO turned on music and said,

“Hey everyone! Welcome to our humble abode!”

“I’m so happy you get to stay, Guude,” said Etho. 

“Yeah. Me too,” said Guude.

“Come on, everyone! This is a party! Get excited!” said BdoubleO. 

Nebris:

Nebris saw BdoubleO, Guude, and Millbee grabbing a drink, but he just stuck to water, remembering what had happened last time he had partaken of alcohol. Etho sat next to him. 

“You’re not drinking?” he asked Etho.

“No. I don’t drink.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. It’s just not for me.”

“Well, it’s not for me either,”

Etho smiled at his joke. “BdoubleO might question you on that one, so watch out. As you can tell, he’s pretty excited about Guude being able to live here with him.”

“They really love each other, don’t they?”

“Yes. It’s sweet, really.”

“Must be nice,” Nebris said, thinking out loud.

“Yeah…” said Etho. “Come dance with me,” and before Nebris could object, Etho grabbed onto his hand and pulled him off the couch. 

Nebris began to feel light-headed when he was with dancing with Etho. Maybe it was how close they were or how great Etho looked in the light. After a while, Nebris got tired and retook his seat on the couch. Etho had gone to the bathroom when BdoubleO sat down next to him.

“Hey, Nebris,” said BdoubleO.

“Hey, BdoubleO,” 

“Call me Bdubs, sweetheart. Are you having fun?”

“Yeah. It’s a great party. Thanks for inviting me!”

“You’re welcome! Can I ask you a question?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Is there something going on between you and Etho?”

Nebris felt himself blush. “No. Why?”

“I don’t know. I just got this feeling. I mean you two looked pretty involved when you were dancing a little while ago.”

“Oh. No. Etho and I are just friends.”

“Okay. I believe you.” 

When BdoubleO went to talk to Beef, Nebris heaved a giant sigh of relief. Etho laughed.

“Bdubs got to you, huh? Did he ask you about your lack of drinking?”

“Yeah.” Nebris decided to lie. He didn’t want to tell Etho the real topic they had discussed. He didn’t want to make things awkward. 

Beef:

Beef couldn’t keep his eyes from Pause and Millbee sitting across the room. He felt his jealousy consume him. He wasn’t having fun at this party. He should never have come. He was about to get up and leave when BdoubleO sat down next to him.

“Hey, Beef,”

“Hi,” said Beef.

“Why aren’t you celebrating? It’s a party!”

“Not all of us have reasons to celebrate,”

“What’s with the sour attitude?”

Beef didn’t answer. He simply kept his eyes on Pause and BdoubleO followed his glance.

“Hon, let me explain something to you. It’s your own fault for not telling him how you feel. Just because you are jealous doesn’t give you an excuse to treat Pause like you did the other night.”

Beef gave him a questioning look.

“He came to me and asked me if he had done anything to upset you. I said no, that you probably just had your foot up your ass,”

“I’m sorry, I am jealous. He just acts so friendly with Millbee and I think he likes him.”

“Millbee has a girlfriend, in case you couldn’t remember, and he acts friendly because he’s Millbee’s friend. Besides you brought this upon yourself. He called you first for comfort, but you told him to go to Millbee, so he did.”

Beef balled his fists, BdoubleO had made a good point. Then he took a deep breath. “I’m an awful person. First I ruin my friendship with Etho and now this,”

“Wait, what?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“No. I haven’t talked to Etho one-on-one for a while,”

“The night of the first day of school, he came over to scold me for acting rude towards Nebris which I shouldn’t have been doing in the first place. I was jealous, again. I got all defensive and he lost it. He was yelling at me about me having only talked about Pause with him and nothing else and how he was tired of it. Then he talked about how he should have told me, that he had been bottling it up for a long time and then he, well, he kissed me-,”

“What?”

“Yeah. I was shocked too. He said he loved me, that he had for a long time, and then he ran out before I could say anything.”

“Yay, Etho!”

“Bdubs!”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that he had told me how hurt that was making him and he finally did something about it!”

“He avoided me for a couple of weeks and then I finally was able to talk to him and he said he couldn’t be my friend anymore,”

“Well, I’m sorry, but it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. I’m glad he’s happier now, I just wish I could make it up to him because I feel terrible.”

“Tell you what, Beef. I’ll try to talk to him. Maybe you can get a chance to talk to him. Just don’t hurt him again.”

“I’ll try not to,”

“That’s not good enough, Beef. You cannot hurt him again, do you understand me?”

BdoubleO looked scary and Beef’s eyes widened, “Yes! I understand!”

“Now, stop sulking and have some fun!” BdoubleO got up and went to chat with Pause and Millbee. 

BdoubleO was always really good at bringing Beef back to reality. He went to talk to Guude. He didn’t know if he could handle talking to Pause yet and he knew Etho would just ignore him if he tried to talk to him. 

Pause:

“Well, I’ll be damned!” exclaimed a voice behind him. Pause turned around and there was BdoubleO.

“Hey, Bdubs! What’s up?”

“Since when do you drink?”

“Since I decided I didn’t care to please my parents anymore, not that they ever were pleased with me in the first place.”

“Looks like you’re getting low there, buddy. Here have another! And join the sucky parents club.”

Pause had never heard BdoubleO mention his parents and so he was a bit taken aback at his statement. He knew something had happened causing him to emancipate himself, but that was it. 

“What happened?”

“I haven’t even told Guude, so, sorry, but I just feel it wouldn’t be right to tell you and not him.”

“I understand.”

They continued to talk for a little while until the party was over. 

Once the party was over, Pause went to Millbee’s. He still hadn’t gone home since Monday night when he had flipped out because every time he thought about it, he got too scared to go home and face his parents. He knew each day he spent away would only make matters worse, but he couldn’t bring himself to return home. 

He had had a lot of fun at the party, though, and he was grateful Beef had introduced him to this wonderful group of people. Beef still wasn’t talking to him and he was worried. BdoubleO had told him he hadn’t done anything, but he wasn’t too sure. 

“What’s on your mind, man?” asked Millbee.

“Oh, I’m just worried.”

“Listen, they really can’t do anything. Your birthday is in a couple weeks, after that you’ll be 18 and you can continue living here with me.”

“I don’t even think they are trying to do anything. I don’t think they care that much.”

“Pause, don’t say that! They care!”

“Oh really? Where’s your proof? All they’ve done for my entire life is criticize my every move. It’s like they don’t see me as a son, just a robot or something.”

“I’m sorry, Pause. You don’t need them anyway. You have me and you have Beef and all the other guys.”

“I don’t know if I have Beef.”

“What?”

“He’s been avoiding me and I don’t know what I did.”

“Have you tried talking to him?”

“Millbee, he’s been avoiding me! Don’t you think I’ve tried?!”

“You two are gonna have to talk at some point!”

“I hope so.”

“Everything will work out. Don’t worry!”

“Thanks, Millbee.”

Pause went to bed, but he couldn’t get to sleep. He knew worrying wasn’t going to make anything better, but he couldn’t help it. He just wanted all the drama in his life to go away. 

Etho:

Ever since two Sundays ago, Etho had been working on a plan to recreate the Homecoming dance for Nebris because he had been so upset that he didn’t get to enjoy it. He got BdoubleO to help him with it.  
Etho’s phone rang. It was BdoubleO.

“Plan’s in action, Etho.”

“How did he react? Does he believe you?”

“Yeah. He seemed to. He’s in the bathroom now so that’s why I can talk.”

The plan had been for BdoubleO to take Nebris shopping and help him pick out something really nice because the restaurant Etho made reservations at required formal wear. From then, he would take him back to his house, where he would somehow persuade Nebris to try on his suit and then Etho would show up. 

“What did you tell him it was for?”

“I just said everyone needs to have a suit.”

“And that worked?” Etho asked unbelievingly.

“I think so. He hasn’t questioned me yet. I’m gonna pretend you’re Guude because he’s coming back.”

“Okay.”

“I love you, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Nebris:

BdoubleO was weird…He wasn’t a bad weird, he was just weird. He had called up Nebris today out of the blue to go suit shopping. Nebris hadn’t thought anything of it at first, but now he was starting to get suspicious. He thought maybe BdoubleO had wanted to discuss something with him and just needed a reason, but as the day went by, he still hadn’t acted like he wanted a deep discussion. He was just chatting. Oh well, maybe this is just his way of being friendly. It’s awfully strange though. 

He walked back to where BdoubleO was standing from the bathroom just in time to hear BdoubleO finish his phone conversation “I love you, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”  
“Hey, Nebris. I really think we should go get you that suit you just tried on.”

Okay, something is seriously up. It’s the beginning of October. There is no reason I should be getting a suit at this time. 

“Um, that’s okay, Bdubs. I don’t really need a suit.”

“Oh, but I insist!”

…

Nebris didn’t even know what to think anymore, but he went along with it because he felt it was pointless to argue. If it made BdoubleO happy to buy him a suit, then he guessed he should just let him. 

Once he bought the suit, he drove him back to his house. He came in with him and started talking to his mom.

“Nebris, you should show your mom what I bought for you.”

“Now?”

“I would love to see it, honey!” said his mother.

“Oh alright.”

This day was just getting weirder and weirder. He went upstairs and put on the suit and when he came back downstairs, BdoubleO was nowhere in sight.

His mom looked at him, “Oh wow! Don’t you just look so handsome?”

“Where’s Bdubs?”

“He said he had to leave.”

For fuck’s sake! Why did he have him put on the suit if he was just going to leave?! 

There was a knock on the door and Nebris answered it, thinking it was BdoubleO.

“Why have you been acting so weird today? Why do I need a suit? Where did you go- Oh. Etho. I’m sorry. I thought you were BdoubleO.”

“I apologize for startling you. I feel I must also apologize for BdoubleO’s strange behavior. He was only acting on my behalf.”

“What?”

“I requested he take you out to buy a suit today.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to take you somewhere.”

What? Etho was taking him somewhere? Was this like a date? What is going on?

“O-okay,”

He followed Etho, feeling really nervous. And embarrassed. He shouldn’t have yelled, even though he didn’t know Etho would be at the door and not Bdubs.

They got to a really fancy restaurant and Etho led him inside. 

“Name?”

“Slab for 2.”

“Right this way, Mr. Slab.”

Nebris didn’t know Etho’s last name was Slab. That showed how observant he was…

Once they were seated, and the waiter had taken their drink orders, Nebris asked,

“What’s the occasion?”

“You said you had never been to a school dance before and then you got really upset when you didn’t get to enjoy your first one. So tonight is your do-over.”

“Why are you so nice to me?”

“Because you are my friend, Nebris, and you deserved to have a good night and you didn’t get to.”

Nebris didn’t know what to say. He was afraid if he spoke, he would start crying. He had only known Etho for a little over a month, but he already felt like he loved him. He knew that Etho didn’t see him like that though.

“Will you tell me about your day?” Etho asked apologetically.

“Sure. I was just really confused why Bdubs wanted to buy me a suit in October. I mean, it was nice of him, but at the time it just blew my mind, especially when I came downstairs and he wasn’t there.”

Etho laughed. “I’m sorry for causing that. I chose Bdubs because he can be very persuasive, plus he wants to get to know you better.”

Nebris was surprised to hear this. “Really?”

"Yes."

Nebris felt really bad now. He should’ve tried harder to make conversation with him.

“Oh. I didn’t know. He’s just-,”

“Hard to talk to? Overly curious?”

“Yeah. And I’m shy and socially awkward.”

“I don’t think you’re socially awkward. I just think it takes a while for people to warm up to you and that’s okay.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

Etho looked surprised. “Sure.”

“What were you thinking about the day we met when you bumped into me?”

“Oh. Um,” Etho looked uncomfortable. 

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“No. It’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting that. I was scolding myself for continuing to help Beef with Pause when all it did was hurt me.”

“Oh,” said Nebris. “Well, even though it hurt you, I’m really glad you weren’t looking where you were going that day.”

“I’m sure we would have met eventually.”

“Yeah, but I probably would have been too shy to talk to you. Besides, we have a unique story as to how our friendship started.”

Etho laughed. “That’s true. I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

“Is it getting any easier?”

“What?”

“Being around Beef.”

“A bit. But not to the point where I can be friends with him again and talk and laugh like we used to. I don’t know if it will ever get back to that point.”

“Well, I’m sorry.” 

“Hey, it’s not your fault.”

The waiter showed up to take their order and then the food arrived shortly after. The two didn’t talk when they were eating and once Etho paid, they left. 

“This was great, Etho.”

“It’s not over yet.”

Wait. He said this was a do-over of Homecoming. That must mean…

“We’re going dancing!” said Etho. 

He became a little worried. Now, it was just him and Etho and he didn’t want to look like an idiot. He took a deep breath and tried to keep his worries in check. He hadn’t really been paying attention to where they were going until he saw where they were. 

“Why are we here?” Nebris asked glancing at the MindCrack.

“They allow people to rent out the space for parties and I reserved it for tonight.”

They walked in and Nebris stopped. He was breathtaken. The MindCrack looked completely different. Twinkling lights were strung along the ceiling, glowing purple and white. There were purple flowers everywhere. A DJ stand sat in the corner behind which BdoubleO stood.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just here to provide the music!” BdoubleO winked. 

The music was really good. BdoubleO had really good taste. They spent the night just dancing crazily to fast songs. Then, almost out of nowhere, “So Close” came on and BdoubleO vanished.

“I love this song, said Etho.

Nebris had never heard it before, but it was a beautiful song. He was in Etho’s arms and he never wanted it to end. He rested his head on Etho’s shoulders and closed his eyes and they just swayed back and forth together.   
When it ended, Nebris broke away, but not wanting to. The night was almost over. This night that had been so perfect and that had been just for him. When the final song was over, Etho drove him home.

“I had a great time. Thank you, Etho, for everything.”

“You’re welcome.”

Nebris went inside and went to his room, thinking about the night. It had been a night he would always remember. 

Etho:

After he dropped Nebris off, he got a call from BdoubleO. 

“Did you kiss him? Did you kiss him?”

“No.”

“What? Why not? I played that song just so you could do it.”

“I couldn’t do it.”

“Why not?”

“I ruined one friendship with a kiss. I can’t ruin another.”

“But you’ll never know if he feels the same way if you don’t tell him!”

“Exactly. What if he doesn’t? I’ll be humiliated and heartbroken all over again.”

“Etho, I know that it’s hard, but you’ve got to be honest with him and with yourself.”

“I am being honest with myself. I like him!”

“Do you? Because it seems like it’s a lot more than that.”

“I’ve gotta go, Bdubs. Thanks for your help.”

“No problem!”

He didn’t know how it had happened, but he had fallen in love with yet another one of his best friends. His feelings for Beef had vanished. He couldn’t admit it to Nebris, but those feelings had been replaced with even stronger feelings for him. Bdubs was right and he knew it, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell him. 

Guude:

BdoubleO got off the phone, looking upset and Guude asked,

“What’s wrong BOO?”

“Those two! It frustrates me! He had his opportunity and he didn’t take it!”

Guude had heard about Etho’s plan to recreate Homecoming for Nebris because apparently he got sick or something and had to go home early. Etho had come to BdoubleO with the idea and BdoubleO agreed to help him if he admitted his real reason for wanting to do it. It took a while but Etho finally revealed that he was in love with Nebris. 

When Guude heard that he wasn’t sure he had heard him correctly. He had liked Beef for years and now he loves a guy he met just a month ago? It was a little hard to believe, but Etho looked pretty serious, so he was convinced. 

“So they’re not together?”

“No, he didn’t even kiss him or tell him how he feels! I put on the sappy romantic song thinking he would, but he said he didn’t want to ruin his friendship.”

“Well, that’s valid.”

“Guude, you’re not helping!”

“I’m sorry! But Etho’s got a point.” That same day, Etho had also told them about what happened between him and Beef. “He kissed Beef and now they never talk anymore. I’m sure he’s worried the same thing is going to happen with Nebris.”

“I just wish it would work out!”

“BOO, if it’s meant to happen, it will. You just have to give them time.”

“Guude?”

“Yes?”

“What made you want to ask me out that day you did sophomore year?”

“I got tired of second guessing myself and I just went for it. It turned out pretty well, I’d say.”

“Yeah. It did,” said BdoubleO, giving him a kiss. 

“While you’re here, I want to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?”

“An old friend of mine is coming to town. I haven’t seen him since the end of 8th grade, when he moved away. I was wondering if it was okay if he came to stay with us while he’s in town.”

“I don’t see why not. He can use the guest room.” The “guest room” was an extra room that BdoubleO shoved a bunch of useless junk into. 

“We’d better clean it out then. He’ll be here Monday.”

The next day, BdoubleO and Guude spent the entire day sorting out all the items that had been shoved into the extra room over the time BdoubleO had been living in that apartment. 

“Why do you have all this stuff?” Guude asked. 

“I don’t know. I’m a hoarder, I guess.”

“Well, it’s time to get rid of it. We have to get a bed in here and we can’t fit one if all this garbage is in here.”

“Oh. Alright.”

After they had finished, they sat down to do their homework together like they did every Sunday night. 

“What’d you get for number four?”

“BOO, I’m not doing your work for you. I’ve told you this before!” 

BdoubleO put on a pouty face and Guude laughed, but he wouldn’t budge.

“How are you going to learn things if I do it for you?”

“Fine,” said BdoubleO, admitting defeat. 

They managed to get their homework done and then they went to bed. Monday arrived and Guude was pretty excited. Tonight when he got home, he would go meet Generik at the airport. 

“Why kind of food does he like?” BdoubleO asked. 

“BOO, it doesn’t matter. Anything you make is delicious.”

“Aww. Thanks. I’m just nervous.”

“It will be fine! You’ll like him! And he’ll like you!”

“Yeah. I don’t know why I’m so worried.”

“Well, I’ve got to go meet him,” said Guude.

“See you in a bit. Love ya!”

“I love you too!”

At the airport, it wasn’t hard to spot Generik. He hadn’t really changed much at all, except he was taller than he had been.

“Hey, Genny!”

“Guude, brotha! How you doing?”

“I’m great!” 

“Come on! I’ll take you to our place.”

“Our?”

“Oh yeah. I live with my boyfriend. It’s actually his apartment, but I moved in when my parents had to move.”

“They were okay with this?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay man. Just checking.”

They got to the apartment and he entered. 

“Something smells good!” said Genny.

“That’s BOO for you. He’s a really good cook. BOO, we’re here!”

BdoubleO came in the room and said, “Oh hey!”

“Genny, this is my boyfriend BdoubleO. BdoubleO, this is Generikb, or Genny as I call him.” 

“It’s nice to meet you!” said BdoubleO.

“Yeah, you too, brotha!”

“Well, dinner’s almost ready, so if you want to take a seat-,”

“Alright.”

BdoubleO:

Dinner was weird. After having only one real conversation with “Genny”, BdoubleO wasn’t sure he liked him. He was crude and he seemed like such a jerk. He wondered why Guude had been friends with him, but he tried not to be judgmental. Generik had known Guude for longer than he had and knowing Guude, he had to have some redeeming qualities about him, right? 

As the dinner continued, with Guude and Generik catching up, BdoubleO saw a side of Guude he had never seen before. He was cracking dirty joke after dirty joke, which was way more than usual, and making mean jokes about people he had never even heard of. He didn’t like this, he didn’t like this at all. 

“BOO, you’ve been awfully quiet. Is everything okay?”

“Huh? Oh yeah. I’m just listening!”

“He’s not usually like this,” Guude said. “He must be shy or something.”

“Don’t talk about me as if I weren’t here!” said BdoubleO. 

He got up and stormed off. They can catch up all they want, whatever. I’ll just do my homework. 

Tuesday and Wednesday passed and BdoubleO was quite ready for the day that Generik left. He didn’t like this change in Guude and he knew it was from the bad influence of Generik.  
“Guude, how long is Genny staying?” he asked, innocently enough. 

“Well, he was talking to me and he said he wants to stay here. He’s been having a hard time at home and he thought moving here would help him get back on his feet.”

“Here as in this state or here as in our apartment?”

“Both.”

“Guude, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Yeah…that’s what we’re doing, isn’t it?”

“In private,” said BdoubleO sternly.

“Yeah, of course.”

They went into their bedroom and BdoubleO said, “I don’t understand why he has to stay here. Can’t he get his own place?”

“Well, it’s gonna take him a while to get on his feet here. He’s gonna have to finish up high school like us…”

“Guude, I really don’t feel comfortable with this. He’s gross and rude and-,”

“Bdubs, I can’t believe you are saying things like this! He’s my friend!”

BdoubleO became upset at Guude’s usage of “Bdubs” instead of his usual “BOO”. BdoubleO had barely been able to deal with him for the past few days. He didn’t think he could stand him permanently staying with them. Was it selfish of him? He supposed he should just agree to it. He was Guude’s friend, after all and that would make him a horrible host, just kicking him out if he was going to live here for good. 

“Oh, alright,” said BdoubleO. 

“Sweet! I’ll go tell Genny.”

BdoubleO rolled his eyes at this. He didn’t know why it was so hard for him to tell Guude how he really felt about this situation and he just wanted things to go back to how they were with him and Guude just living there. 

Another week passed. BdoubleO was going crazy. He didn’t know how much longer he could take this. On top of his original reasons for not liking him, Generik was a slob and he didn’t clean up after himself. He left beer cans all over the house and he constantly raided the fridge. 

One night in particular really sent him over the edge. It was a Friday night and Guude had gone to the store to get snacks for the movie they were planning to watch, which left him and Generik alone. 

“Hey,BOO-,” BdoubleO flinched at Generik’s usage of Guude’s nickname for him. 

“Yeah,” said BdoubleO.

“You’re a hot piece of ass. Why are you with someone like Guude anyway? You’re way too good for him!”

BdoubleO was starting to feel very uncomfortable. Generik had gotten up and was standing really close to him. BdoubleO could smell the alcohol on his breath.

“Please get away from me. You make me feel uncomfortable.”

“Aww come on, BOO. Don’t you like me?” Generik then pulled his head in and kissed him fiercely.

BdoubleO backed away.

“I wasn’t done,BOO,” said Genny, grabbing onto his arm. 

“Yeah. Well I am!” said BdoubleO, snatching his arm back from Generik’s grasp. 

BdoubleO ran out of the apartment and ran into Guude coming in. 

“BOO, what’s wrong?”

“Get away from me!”

BdoubleO ran to Etho’s house. Etho opened the door. 

“Bdubs, what’s wrong?”

“A lot of things, actually, but long story short, I need a place to stay. Can I stay here with you?”

“Of course.”

Etho got him a drink and sat him down on the couch. 

“Did you and Guude have a fight?”

“No, but had I stayed there any longer we would have.”

“What happened?”

“Guude’s old friend from middle school has been staying with us since last Monday and I didn’t like him at all. He was crude, mean, and he was a slob, but I felt like I couldn’t say no to him staying with us. Then tonight-,”  
BdoubleO was shaking and he tried his hardest to keep the tears from coming. 

“Guude left to get snacks at the store and Generik had been drinking and he got close and even though I told him I felt uncomfortable, he kissed me and started to get violent when I backed away. Luckily, I got out of there as fast as I could.”

“Did you tell Guude?”

“No. I only screamed at him to get away from me. He would’ve defended his precious friend anyway.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Why? He’s been defending him every other time I’ve said something about him.”

“But he loves you, Bdubs. Surely if he knew what you just told me, he’d listen.”

“Generik’s probably feeding him all sorts of lies about what happened. Listen, Etho, I think I just need a break from Guude.”

“You mean?”

BdoubleO nodded. “I thought nothing could come between us. I thought we could handle anything.”

“There’s still hope.”

“As long as that scum is living in my apartment, we’re done.”

Guude:

What the fuck just happened? Why did BdoubleO leave like that? 

“What the fuck did you do to my boyfriend?”

“Me? Nothing, I swear!”

“It didn’t seem like nothing.”

“He’s always had it in for me. You know that.”

Guude ignored Genny and took out his phone. He tried calling BdoubleO, but he got no answer. He called Beef, Pause, Nebris, Etho, and even Millbee, but they all said they didn’t know where he was. 

It was not like BdoubleO to just run off like this. He didn’t leave any explanation and Genny was being fucking useless as to why he left. He knew that BdoubleO wasn’t fond of him, but he was his friend. He felt like he had to give him a place to stay as long as he was here. They went way back. 

“Do you want to watch the movie?” Generik asked. “I’m sure he’ll come back.”

“Yeah sure. I don’t know where he is.”

The weekend passed and he still hadn’t heard anything from BdoubleO. He called him and left what was like his 50th voicemail. “Hey, BOO, umm can you call me back please? I’m really worried about you and no one seems to know where you are and whatever I did, I’m so sorry.”

Monday at school, BdoubleO was nowhere to be found either. Until lunch. When Guude got to the lunch table and BdoubleO was sitting there, he let out a sigh of relief.

“BOO, thank goodness! Where have you been?”

Etho looked anxiously at BdoubleO, watching for his reaction. Nebris and Beef just looked confused. They didn’t know what was going on at all. 

“We need to talk,” was the reply that came.

“Okay. That’s what I’ve been trying to do but you wouldn’t answer my calls or-,”

“Meet me in the park after school,” said BdoubleO and then he got up and moved to sit with Pause and Millbee. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Guude demanded of the table, not really expecting an answer. 

During class, all Guude could think about was the look that had been on BdoubleO’s face when he said “we need to talk”. What happened? What had he done to upset him?

He went to the park and BdoubleO was already sitting at a table. Guude sat across from him. 

“BOO?”

“Don’t talk. Just listen to me, okay? This is going to be really hard for me to tell you, but I have been informed that I should. Friday night, when you left, Generik had been drinking a lot and he came onto me. I told him I was uncomfortable, but he got closer to me and then he kissed me. I don’t know what he told you about that night, but that’s what really happened. I just wish you had listened to me. I told you I didn’t like him, but you kept defending him. I’m not blaming you for what happened, but I just wanted to let you know. I, I need a break, Guude. It breaks my heart, but I think it’s for the best. It really hurts that you valued his friendship over mine because I know he has known you longer than I have, but I thought we were in love. I thought you would back me up. I thought you would value my input, but you didn’t. You continued to let him stay even when I had problems with him.”

BdoubleO stopped talking, got up, and walked away. Just like that, he was gone. Guude went home. He walked in the front door.

“Hey!” said Generik. 

Guude marched up to Generik and punched him in the face. “That was for BOO.” Generik got up and Guude punched him again “And that one’s for me, asshole! Get out! I don’t ever want to see you again!”

“Guude, what the hell?”

“Get out! Don’t talk to me! Go home, why did you even come here? To ruin my life? Cause congratulations! That’s what you’ve accomplished!”

Generik left and Guude sat on the couch. He couldn’t believe what BdoubleO had said to him, but he knew he was right. BdoubleO had felt uncomfortable, he had voiced his concerns, and Guude had completely ignored him. He just wished he could take everything back. He wished Generik had never come. 

Pause:

October had been a busy month so far for Pause and it was almost through. He still had not returned home, but he thought he should soon. 

On the 26th of October, he decided to go home and face the wrath of his parents. He got to his front door and knocked.

His father answered. “So you’ve finally decided to come home, have you?”

“I just want to talk to you and mom.”

“Very well.”

His parents sat on the couch and he sat on a chair sitting across from them. They both wore very stern expressions, but that was pretty normal for them, and he braced himself for the anger he felt was sure was coming. It never did.

“Pause, I missed you so much! I was so worried about you! Why did you leave?”

Didn’t she remember? He knew it had been a while since he had been home, but it wasn’t like it had been years or something. 

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t take the stress anymore.”

“Stress?”

“I was trying so hard to please you, but all I ever did was make you disappointed in me. I’ve been getting straight A’s every year in high school, but you still didn’t notice me. I was elected senior class president this year, but you kept saying I didn’t do enough. I was gone from the house for weeks and you don’t even seem to care that much. You were constantly putting me down and criticizing me and I just got sick of it. You never had time to spend with me because you were always working and when you weren’t working, you were asleep or ‘busy’. I left because I assumed you didn’t care about me.”

“Pause, of course that’s not true! We care about you!”

“Oh really? When’s my birthday?”

“Umm. Uh.”

“What’s my favorite color? What’s my favorite book? How can you care about me if you don’t even know these basic things about me?”

“We’re sorry, honey.”

“Do you know how lonely and depressed I felt whenever you rejected me? It made me feel like you were just keeping me around because you had to.”

“Son, where have you been staying?”

“And now when I spill my guts to you, you don’t even listen to me! I’ve been staying with my friend and I’m gonna keep staying there. Congratulations! You got what you always wanted! I won’t be a burden to you anymore!”

Pause stormed out, not even turning back. He went to Millbee’s. He wasn’t there, but that was okay. He had a key now because he had been staying there for a while. His phone rang. It was Beef. He hadn’t talked to Beef ever since that first night he had stormed out of his parent’s house. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, Pause. I’m glad you answered. I need to talk to you about the way I acted. Can you come over?”

“I’ll be right there.”

Pause got to Beef’s house as quickly as he could. Beef answered the door and immediately started talking. 

“I’m so sorry. I acted like such a jerk to you and you did nothing to me. I was just being stupid. I let my emotions get the best of me.”

“But I don’t understand why you were so angry.”

“I, I like you. A lot. I have for a long time. I was upset that I didn’t get to spend much time with you at the dance. And I was jealous of you and Millbee’s friendship. I thought you liked him.”

“Well why didn’t you just say so? I like you too!”

“You do?”

“Yeah. That’s why I asked you to the dance. I’m not very good at expressing my feelings. I’m sorry that I was really busy during the dance and I’m sorry that you were disappointed. I feel really bad.”

“No. Don’t. I was just acting ridiculous.”

They spent the night talking. Pause told Beef all about the drama with his parents and living at Millbee’s and Beef told Pause what BdoubleO had said to him at his party. 

“So he’s going to try to get Etho to talk to you again?”

“Yeah. Lately there’s been the drama with him and Guude though, so it might be a while. Heck, it already has been,” he smiled. 

“What happened with Guude and BdoubleO?” Pause asked. 

“They broke up.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m not sure. Guude hasn’t been at school since and BdoubleO said he doesn’t want to talk about it.” 

“When did they break up?”

“Monday.”

“Guude missed four days?!”

“Yeah. We haven’t seen him since.”

“Well someone should go talk to him!” Pause exclaimed. 

“Let’s go now!”

“Really?”

“Yeah!”

 

They arrived at what had once been Guude and BdoubleO’s apartment and knocked on the door. There was no answer. 

“Guude, we know you are in there and if you don’t open the door, we’re gonna break it down.”

Guude didn’t respond. They waited a few minutes and then Beef turned to Pause. “You wanna do the honors?”

“Sure.”

Pause kicked the door in. The two entered and found Guude curled up in a ball on his couch. He looked awful. He looked like he hadn’t showered in a few days and the place was a mess. 

“Go away,” said Guude.

“Guude, we just wanna talk to you,” said Pause.

“Well, I don’t wanna talk to you guys.”

“Come on!” said Beef.

“No!”

“Come on, sulking isn’t going to accomplish anything.”

Guude sat up looking pissed. “Sulking? You think I’m sulking? I had my heart torn out of my chest and you call it sulking?”

“Okay, okay, calm down.”

“Hey, it’s progress. At least he’s talking,” said Pause. 

“That’s true,” Beef replied. “Guude, will you please come back to school? Or at least take care of yourself? We’ve all been pretty worried about you.”

“I don’t want to. There’s no point.”

“Guude, things will get better, okay? Trust me.”

“How can you look me in the face and say that? I love BdoubleO and he wants nothing to do with me. As he should. I suck. I don’t even know why he liked me in the first place.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I don’t want to get into it, okay? Look, I’ll get up and I’ll shower and I’ll come to school, but don’t tell me things will be okay.”

“Okay, buddy. Whatever you say,” said Beef.

“Please just leave.”

“Um, I kind of wrecked your door,” Pause said.

“It can stay like that for all I care,” Guude said.

“Well bye, Guude. See you Monday!”

“Yeah whatever.”

Beef and Pause went to Beef’s house and played video games and cuddled. Pause felt guilty feeling so happy after seeing how miserable Guude was, but he couldn’t help it. 

BdoubleO:

Etho had been so nice to him the past few days. He had been staying at his house because he couldn’t go back to his own apartment. 

“Thank you sweetheart,” BdoubleO said to Etho after he said he could live with him until he found a different residence. 

“Anything for you, Bdubs. You’ve helped me so much in the past, it only makes sense that I help you now when you need it.”

“That reminds me. Any progress on your situation?”

“No,” said Etho. 

“Ah. Oh! I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something,” Bdubs said, remembering a conversation he had had with Beef quite a while ago. He just hadn’t had a chance to talk to Etho, but now that he was living at his house, he had ample opportunity.

“What is it?”

“Are you ever going to talk to Beef again?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you should.”

“Why?”

“Well, you don’t have feelings for him anymore, right?”

“Yeah, but still I think it would be awkward.”

“Sometimes we have to do things that make us feel awkward, Etho, because the outcome will be worth it. You and Beef were friends for so long, it’s sad that it has to end.”

“True. I suppose I could attempt conversation with him.”

“Why don’t you call him?”

“Okay. I will.”

That made BdoubleO happy to hear. He hadn’t felt this happy in a while. 

Etho:

Etho dialed Beef’s number nervously. He knew this was something he should do, and he wanted to be Beef’s friend again, but he was afraid Beef wouldn’t accept. 

“Hello?” Beef asked.

“Hey, Beef,” Etho started.

“Etho?!” he sounded excited to hear his voice which was promising.

“Yeah.”

“What’s up, man? How have you been?”

“Good. I was wondering if we could talk.”

“I would love to, but I’m kind of busy right now. How about we meet at the MindCrack for lunch tomorrow at around 12:30?”

“Sure. That would be great. Alright. See you tomorrow, Beef.”

“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” asked BdoubleO.

“We’re meeting for lunch tomorrow.”

“Yay! I knew you guys could make it work!”

“I didn’t realize I called so late. He probably was getting ready for bed.”

“I’m sure he’s not mad.”

“Alright, well, if you need anything, Bdubs, be sure to let me know. I’m going to bed.”

“Have a good night!”

“You too!”

The next day, Etho worried over what he should wear to lunch. BdoubleO came in his room and said,

“Etho, what are you doing?”

“I’m choosing what I’m going to wear to lunch.”

“Who are you trying to impress? It’s just Beef.”

“Yeah. I know, but-,”

“No buts. Just wear jeans and a t-shirt. It’s lunch.”

“Oh alright.”

When it was time to go, Etho took a deep breath. BdoubleO was right. It was just a lunch. And he didn’t like Beef anymore. He could do this.

Etho arrived at the MindCrack and Beef was already there waiting for him. He smiled and went to sit across from Beef in the booth.

“Hey,” Etho said.

“Hey! It’s so good to see you. It’s been a while.”

“I’m sorry. That’s my fault.”

“No. Don’t apologize. I should be the one apologizing. I’m so sorry that I treated you so horribly. I was a terrible friend to you and you have every right to be upset with me.”

“I’m not upset, anymore, Beef. I just want to move past all this. That’s why I wanted to meet.”

“You, you mean you want to be friends again?”

“Yes,” said Etho with a huge grin on his face.

“Yay! I missed you, buddy! What’s been going on?”

Etho told him all about Homecoming, except he left out the real reason they had to leave early to respect Nebris’s privacy. Then, he went into the do-over Homecoming and Beef said,

“Wow. It sounds like you really care about him.”

“I do.” Etho said blushing.

“Wait, do you like him?”

He felt it would do him no good to lie. Beef was about as good at being able to tell when he was lying as BdoubleO was. “Yes.”

“Well, I wish you luck.”

“Thanks. So how are things coming with Pause?”

“Remember last night when you called and I said I was busy?”

“Yeah.”

“I was with him. I finally admitted to liking him and he said he felt the same way, so we had a long talk.”

“Ah,” said Etho. “That’s so great, Beef. I’m really happy for you!”

“Thanks.”

“There’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

“What is it?”

“BdoubleO has been living with me for the past week. I love him dearly, but this is not how things should be. He should be with Guude. The two were practically made for each other.”

“Agreed, but how do we fix this? Guude’s not talking. Pause and I went to see him and he agreed to come to school tomorrow, but only after we pestered him about it. He looked awful. He said something that made me sad. He said that he sucked and that he didn’t know why BdoubleO had ever been with him in the first place.”

“We have to get them to realize how much they love each other. I won’t say that this was a small thing that broke them up, but they have stuck together through so many other things. When Guude almost had to leave, BdoubleO was right there for him and things turned out alright. I know they can get through this too.”

“What happened? I’m assuming you know because of what you just said.”

“I’m not gonna say. I feel better letting one of them tell you since it’s their business.”

“Dangit, man. Okay. So what are we gonna do?”

“Well, we need to get them alone in a room together. Maybe they’ll realize how much they missed each other and get back together.”

“Well, Pause said something to me about throwing a Halloween party at Millbee’s the day after Halloween. Will that work?”

“Yes. We need to get Pause, Nebris, and Millbee to help us.”

“Okay. Wait.”

“What?”

“When Guude shows back up at school, BdoubleO will just walk away and sit at a different table for lunch. Maybe you and Nebris could sit with him and Pause, Millbee, and I could sit with Guude. That way, we could talk to Guude about the party and you guys could talk to BdoubleO about it and they’ll both show up!”

“I guess it’s worth a shot.”

They ate their food and then chatted about various other things before they parted ways.

I hope our plan works, Etho thought. 

The next day, at lunch, Etho nodded at Beef and they started their plan. The day before, they had called Pause, Nebris, and Millbee and all of them had eagerly agreed to help. 

“Hey, Bdubs. Pause is having a Halloween party on Friday. You should come!”

“How come he didn’t tell me about it himself?”

“I don’t know. I just heard about it today, he’ll probably get around to inviting you.”

“Oh okay. Well that sounds like fun!”

Nebris started talking about what he was going to dress up as and then all three of them were giving suggestions and thinking about what they would dress up as. 

Beef got up and Etho excused himself from the table. They both headed to the bathrooms. 

“BdoubleO’s in.” said Etho.

“Really? It was that simple?”

“Why? Are you guys having problems?”

“Major problems. He’s being all mopey and he keeps saying it wouldn’t be fun.”

“Well find some way to convince him! It’s important, Beef!”

“I know. It’s just not that simple. Guude’s one of the most stubborn people I have ever met.”

“Please keep trying!”

“I will.”

Beef:

Friday got closer and Guude had still refused to agree to come to the party. Thursday night, the night of actual Halloween, Beef went to Guude’s house to have a little chat.

“Guude, I want to talk to you.”

“If this is about that dang party, my answer has not changed since the last hundred times you’ve asked me.”

“It’s not about the party.”

“Fine. Come in.”

Beef walked in, intending to have a calm discussion with Guude, but when he found Guude looking the same as he did the night Pause and him had come to talk to him, he exclaimed,

“Guude, what has gotten into you? The Guude Boulderfist I know doesn’t mope. I know that you’re sad, but it’s been two weeks, man. You want to win him back? Well, sitting around crying isn’t going to accomplish that! He’s gonna be at the party tomorrow with all of us. Do you want him to see how pathetic you are that after two weeks you still can’t be around him?! Or do you want to show him that you’re over it? That you’re not hurt anymore?”

Guude sighed. “You’re right, man. I’ll go to that party.”

“Good!”

Beef felt kind of bad that he had called Guude pathetic, but he knew that that was what it would take to get Guude to do anything. He knew that if he had broken up with the love of his life after two years that he would be greatly upset too. But he didn’t think it was over for them. It couldn’t be. 

He called Etho. “I got him to agree to come,”

“How?”

“I feel really bad, but I yelled at him. I called him pathetic because I knew it would get him all riled up.”

“Don’t feel bad, Beef. We did this for them.”

“I know, but I still feel bad.”

“Hopefully it all works out. Tomorrow, we start part two of the plan.”

“Yep.”

Guude:

Why had he agreed to come to this party again? Every time he saw BdoubleO, he felt like had been stabbed with a knife in his heart. He wanted to go home. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t take Beef’s advice because no matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, he was not over it. Not even close. 

“Hey, guys!” Pause yelled. “We’re gonna play a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven. I think Guude and BdoubleO should go.”

Wait, what? Didn’t Pause know? No. No. He couldn’t do this. 

“Come on you two.”

After Pause practically forced him into the closet with BdoubleO, he closed the door.

The next few minutes were perhaps the most awkward of Guude’s life. BdoubleO didn’t talk to him, he didn’t even look at him. When half the time was over, or what Guude assumed was half the time, Guude said,

“BOO-,”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” screamed BdoubleO. “I SAID I NEEDED A BREAK. WHAT PART OF THAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?”

“Hey, it’s not MY fault we were thrown in here together. You can blame me for the end of our relationship, but you can’t blame me for this! Besides, YOU ended things, not me!”

“Yeah because YOU didn’t listen to me.”

“HE’S GONE, OKAY? I threw him out once I found out.”

“That’s not good enough. I saw a change in you I didn’t like, Guude. When you were with him, you took on this whole other side I never saw before. You were a jerk. You were like him. I realized that I had been with you for two years and I didn’t know you, not really.”

“I’m not like that! I promise.”

“So you pretend to be someone you’re not just to please him? Because you’re scared? I was right there and I love you for you. You didn’t have to pretend with me.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I know, but I just can’t do this right now.” BdoubleO said as the door was opened. BdoubleO, without saying a word, left. Guude exited the closet and was met with five very guilty looking expressions.

“Whose brilliant idea was this? Huh? I didn’t need this! I could’ve been at home, safe from being hurt any more than I already was, but no you guys just had to go and make it worse!”

“We’re sorry, Guude, we thought-,” said Etho. 

“I don’t care what you thought! I’m going home! Thanks so much for meddling! It sure helped a lot,” spat Guude sarcastically. 

He left then. He was too mad to say anything else, but he was more upset than angry. He knew they had probably just been trying to help. They couldn’t have known how badly it would backfire. If it had been anyone else, Guude would’ve probably been eager to join in and help, so he couldn’t bring himself to be angry at his friends. 

Etho:

“Oh goodness,” Etho said when Guude left Millbee’s house. “I didn’t think things would turn out like that. I’ve never heard BdoubleO that angry before,”

“Who was the other guy they were talking about?” Pause asked.

“Did Guude cheat?” asked Millbee.

“No. Guude didn’t cheat,” replied Etho.

“Well then what happened?” Pause asked.

“Fine. I’ll tell you, but don’t bring it up around either of them.” Etho said.

Once he had explained what happened, or at least how BdoubleO had described it to him, the other three sat in silence.

“Oh. Poor Bdubs. Did he say how Guude reacted when he told him that?” Beef said.

“No. He didn’t say anything about that to me.” 

“Guude was probably pissed. I would be if someone did something like that to Annette, especially if that person had been a friend of mine,” said Millbee.

“Yeah. Well he said he threw him out, I wonder if he meant literally,” Pause said.

“I feel so guilty,” said Beef. “Guude’s right. We never should’ve meddled. Now it’s worse than it was before. What do we do now?”

“Do? Nothing. How can we? We’ve already done too much,” said Etho.

“We just need to give them space,” said Nebris. “I’m confident that if things are meant to work out between them, they will, but we can’t just force them together if that’s not what BdoubleO wants. We have to respect that.” 

Etho was surprised, as were the other three. Nebris had been quiet throughout this whole conversation, as he typically was when in a group. 

“Nebris is right,” said Etho. 

Beef, Etho, and Nebris said goodbye and left then, not knowing what else to do. They couldn’t bring themselves to continue the party after what had just happened. 

Etho was about to enter his home when he heard a noise. He stopped with his hand on the doorknob and listened closely. He heard sobs and then voices. 

“What’s wrong, Bdubs,” he heard his mother ask.

“Oh. I just had a run-in with Guude. It didn’t turn out very well. I yelled at him. I’m just not ready to talk to him yet. I know it’s been a couple of weeks, but time didn’t help at all, like I thought it would.”

“Oh, honey. You just take all the time you need.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Slab. Please don’t tell Etho about this. I don’t want him to worry about me. He tends to do that.”

“Of course. Do you need anything?”

“No. I’ll be fine…eventually.”

“Well, I’m off to bed. Try to keep your chin up, things will get better.”

“Thanks.”

Etho waited a while before entering. He didn’t want BdoubleO to know he had heard all of that, especially since he was so concerned about him not knowing.  
BdoubleO looked up when he came in. 

“Oh hey, Etho. How was the rest of the party? I’m sorry I stormed off,”

“It was fine,” Etho lied. He wanted to apologize, but he didn’t think BdoubleO wanted to talk about his fight with Guude. 

“I’m glad. Well, I’m gonna go to bed. Have a nice night!”

“You too.”

School is gonna be a fun experience, Etho thought before going to bed himself. 

Pause:

Ever since the party, things had been awfully quiet at school and not in a good way. The lunch tables were still divided with Etho and Nebris sitting with Bdubs and himself, Beef, and Millbee sitting with Guude. Guude never spoke, just sitting quietly eating his lunch and they were careful to never bring up anything involving BdoubleO in front of him. It got to the point where no one spoke about anything and so lunches were extremely awkward. 

It was amazing to Pause how fast the school year had been going. It was already the middle of November and Pause wasn’t sure he liked the fast pace of the school year. Sure, he was excited for college, but he was also afraid to leave the comfort of the high school he had attended for almost four years now. 

Pause had had so many projects and assignments to do plus student council events and meetings to plan that he had been going to bed really late and pulling a lot of all-nighters recently. He hadn’t spent any time with Beef either and Pause was really starting to miss his boyfriend. So when Beef called, asking if they could have a movie night, he could hardly say no.

He and Beef were cuddled on the couch when Pause began to shiver. He hadn’t realized it was so cold in Beef’s house. 

“D-do you h-have a b-blanket?” he asked Beef.

Beef turned to look at him and his eyes widened. 

“Are you okay, Pause? You don’t look good at all.” He felt his head. 

“You’re really hot,”

“Why, thank you.”

“No, Pause. I think you have a fever.”

“N-no. I c-can’t have a fever. I have stuff I have to do. I don’t have time to get sick.”

“Pause, I think you’re doing too much,” Beef said, concerned. “You pushed yourself too hard and with all the stress and your hardly sleeping, you got sick. I’m going to go get you a blanket and make you some soup. Don’t move.”

Pause sighed. He hardly ever got sick, why did he have to be now? Beef returned with the blanket and the soup a little while later. Once he had eaten all of it, Beef had made him, he began to feel really tired.

“Beef, will you sing to me?”

“Uh, okay, but only because you’re sick.”

Beef started singing and Pause felt his eyelids begin to droop. 

Beef:

Once Beef made sure Pause was asleep, he grabbed a blanket for himself and slept on the chair in case Pause needed something.

He woke up and Pause was still asleep so he decided to make breakfast for the two of them. By the time he came into the living room with a tray of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and a glass of orange juice, Pause was awake.  
“Good morning! Feeling any better?”

Pause shook his head. He mouthed “Worse.”

“What’s wrong?”

I can’t talk. Throat hurts. Ears too. Pause wrote on a piece of paper. 

“You must have strep throat. I hear it’s been going around.”

Darn. So much for this going away quickly.

“You work too hard, Pause.”

I feel like I have to with college coming around the corner. 

“You’ve already been accepted to a lot of places. You deserve a break.”

A break sounds nice. Too bad it came in the form of illness.

“You don’t get sick much, do you?”

Hardly ever. This is the first time in years.

“Well, I’m sorry. Do you want me to give you some Ibuprofin?”

Nah. That stuff doesn’t work anyway.

“Are you sure?”

Yeah. 

“So, what do you want to do?”

Talk to you. It’s been a while and I know it’s my fault, but I miss you. 

“I’ve missed you too.”

Sorry I ruined movie night.

“Don’t apologize! Everyone gets sick! It’s not like you could control it!”

Yeah, but I still feel bad. 

“It’s okay, really. Don’t worry about it!”

They talked like that until Pause fell asleep again mid-afternoon. 

Beef did his homework until he noticed Pause was awake.

“How are you feeling?”

Eh. I’ve been better.

“Voice still not back?”

No.

“Do you want some water?”

Yes, please.

Once he got the water, and Pause drank it, Pause wrote,

Thank you for taking care of me. It makes being sick not as miserable.

“Anything for you.”

Beef, are you worried for college?

Beef was taken aback. The question came out of nowhere.

“Well, the truth is…I don’t really want to go to college.”

This was the first time Beef had decided to tell the truth about his feelings about college.

“Everyone expects me to go, but, but I just can’t stand the thought of going back to school for any amount of time. I just wanna get started with my life. I don’t want school to hold me back from that.”

How long have you thought this, Beef?

“I don’t know, a while. I’m sorry if that offends you or something, but it’s just how I feel.”

No, I’m not offended. Why would I be? It’s your life. 

“Are you worried for college?”

Yeah. 

“Why?”

I don’t know. I’m just not ready to go out into the “real world”. 

“You’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

It’s just crazy for me to think about. Christmas is in a little over a month, meaning the end of the semester. Only one semester left and then BAM! We’re done with high school. Doesn’t that scare you, even a little?

“I suppose, but I’m excited too. Being on my own, experiencing new things. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do and soon I’ll get to!”

Yeah, but then there’s also getting a job, paying taxes, paying bills, getting married, and raising kids to think about.

Woah, woah. Was Pause implying he was already thinking about marriage for them? Or was he implying he didn’t want to get married?

“Getting married? Is that a thing you dread?”

Not necessarily. I was just thinking of major events.

“But you listed it with paying bills and paying taxes. Does marriage scare you?”

Well, yeah. But I’m not opposed to it. 

Beef didn’t know how to respond to that. He wanted to get married someday, but he realized it was a little early in their relationship to be thinking about it. 

Have I upset you somehow? You’re awfully quiet.

“No, no. I’m just thinking. Can I ask you a question?”

Go for it.

“Did you have a different locker originally this year because there was no one next to me last year.”

Yeah, but my lock got stuck, so I had to switch. 

“I’ll have to remember to thank your old locker one of these days.”

*laughs* I just wish other people realized their feelings for one another so they can be happy like us. 

“Are you talking about Guude and BdoubleO?”

No, Etho and Nebris, but them too.

“How did you know?”

It’s pretty freaking obvious. 

“Wow. You’re observant!”

Well, how’d you know?

“Etho told me when we had lunch that one time.”

I’m glad you two are talking again. I could tell you were pretty upset about losing him as a friend. 

“Yeah. Me too, but we should definitely not meddle. We found that out the hard way.”

What’s wrong with a little push?

“Pause, you know we can’t. You’ve seen how shy Nebris is. He’d probably die from embarrassment if we even brought it up.”

But now that you’re friends with Etho again, you could get him to make the first move.

“No, Pause. I’m not going to meddle in anyone else’s love life.”

Fine. 

“I’m tired. I’m going to go to sleep. Feel free to watch TV or something if you’re not ready to sleep, but you do need to sleep in order to get better.”

Yes, mom. 

“Hey, I’m just concerned for your health.”

I know and I greatly appreciate it!

“Good night!”

Good night Beefaroo!

Beef laughed at Pause using one of his many nicknames for him. He went to sleep, thinking about everything he and Pause had just talked about. 

Nebris:

Nebris wanted to tell Etho how he felt, but every time he opened his mouth to say it, the words never came out and it was making him frustrated. There were times he was tempted to go ask BdoubleO for help, but he was afraid to do that. Besides, BdoubleO had his own drama to deal with and Nebris didn’t want to add to that. 

He decided he wanted to throw a Christmas party. His parents had already agreed to it. When he had asked for their permission, they had eagerly said yes. He wasn’t surprised. This was the first group of friends he had ever had and his parents had been wanting to meet them. 

When he brought it up at lunch, Etho and BdoubleO were shocked. They had still been sitting separately from the others ever since the big fight at Millbee’s. He knew he wasn’t the type to throw a party, but he wanted to get over his shyness and he thought throwing a party would help him with that. Besides, Etho was already planning a New Year’s party, but nobody had said anything about a Christmas party. 

“I’d love to come, Nebris,” Etho said.

“Yeah. Me too,” said Bdubs.

“Great,” said Nebris.

It had gotten to the point where he no longer felt shy around BdoubleO and he could even carry on a conversation with him quite comfortably.

“I was thinking instead of everyone getting gifts for everyone else that we could do a Yankee Swap.”

“What in the hell is that?” asked Bdubs.

“It’s kind of like a game. Everyone brings a wrapped gift, under a certain price like $20 or something, and we place them in a pile. Whoever goes first takes a present and unwraps it. The next person to go can either steal the first person’s present from them or unwrap a new gift. A present can only be stolen twice though. It continues until everyone has a present. The presents can be silly or serious, it doesn’t matter which. So does that sound good to you?”

”Nebris, this is the most excited I think I’ve ever seen you,” said BdoubleO.

“Well, I’ve been planning this for a while,” Nebris replied.

“That sounds great, Nebris!” said Etho.

“Cool. I’m gonna go tell the others,” said Nebris.

Pause, Beef, Millbee, and Guude were all very excited about his party too.

“Can I bring Annette?” Millbee asked.

“Of course! The more the merrier!” Nebris said.

Nebris loved Christmas time. He loved spending time with his family, he loved the decorations, the food, the music. He loved watching Christmas movies and picking out presents for his mom and dad. Now that his friends had agreed to come to his party, Nebris knew this was going to be the best Christmas ever.

Unfortunately, the guys still had to take finals before Christmas break. Nebris was starting to get stressed out. He was really afraid for his English one because he hated English and had always struggled with the subject. Plus, he and Etho often goofed off, talking to each other and doodling, instead of paying attention. 

A couple days before finals were to start, Nebris was in his room studying like he had been for the past few days. He had to get good grades on his finals or else he wouldn’t be able to enjoy his break, knowing he’d be worried about what his final grades were.

There was a knock on his door.

“Mom, I told you, I’m studying!”

Etho peeked his head in the room. “Bad time?”

“Oh, hey, Etho. What are you doing here?”

“I’ve barely seen you all week. I thought I would make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine. I’ve just been studying.”

“All week?”

“Yep.”

“Come with me.”

“What? Etho, haven’t you been listening? I need to study.”

“You look like you could use a break. Besides, it’s not good for your eyes to be reading constantly. You’ll strain them!”

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Etho led him downstairs and once he explained to his mom that he was taking a study break and would be back later, they left.

They pulled up in front of a nice little coffee shop that Nebris had never been to, but had heard wonderful things about. 

“You like coffee, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

Etho ordered and then told Nebris to get whatever he wanted.

“It’s my treat,” he said.

When they had their drinks, they sat down at a table by the window.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“You seem perfectly at ease when finals start in two days.”

“I just pace myself. Study a little, go for a walk, study a little bit more, eat, etc. etc.”

“I wish I could be more like that, but I’m not.”

“Well, do you need help?”

Nebris didn’t want to admit that English was the subject he was struggling with. For one thing, he was embarrassed and for another, he didn’t want Etho to feel bad. After all, it wasn’t his fault that Nebris had always chosen to talk to Etho instead of pay attention.

“Umm…this is kind of embarrassing.”

“What is it?”

“I need help in English.”

“Oh,” said Etho. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I feel terrible for distracting you!”

“No, don’t feel bad! It’s my fault.”

“Well, I will do my best to help you understand.”

The next couple of hours, Etho tried his best to explain the grammar parts Nebris did not understand. It helped a little, but not much progress was made.

“Good luck, Nebris! I believe in you!”

“I can’t do this! The final’s in two days! I’m freaking out!”

“Nebris, take a deep breath. It’ll be okay and then once finals are over, you get to have your party!”

“You’re right. Thank you for your help, Etho. I’ve got to get home now.”

“Okay. Don’t study too hard, now!”

“I won’t. I promise.”

Nebris took Etho’s advice and took a break every once in a while for the rest of the day. After dinner, realizing he was tired, he went to bed.

The first day of finals arrived and Nebris was nervous. He had studied all he could and he knew that, but he couldn’t escape the feeling of nervousness that kept creeping up on him. Right before they had to be seated to take their finals, Etho said,

“Good luck, Nebris!”

“Thank you.”

Once the English final was over, Nebris heaved a sigh of relief. Every other final he had remaining would be a cake walk compared to that one.

When his last final was over and the semester was ended, Nebris went home, excited for his party that was in a couple of days. He didn’t want to have it on Christmas Eve or Christmas because he knew people spent that time with their families, so he had planned for it to be on the 23rd. 

It was the day of the party. Shortly before his guests were to arrive, he finished the last of his cleaning and went to shower and change his clothes.

“You excited, honey?” his mom asked.

“Yeah and nervous.”

“Why?”

“I’ve never had a party before.”

“It’ll be fine. They’ll have a great time!”

“I hope so.”

People started showing up and everyone chatted until they started the Yankee Swap. The gifts were a variety of wacky things and everyone laughed and joked as one by one people opened their presents.

“Wow. I can use this on the plane tomorrow.” Guude said as he opened Beef’s gift of various puzzle books and pens.

“Plane? Where are you going?” asked Beef.

“I’m spending Christmas with my parents.”

“Oh that’s nice.”

“I’ll be back for your New Years’ party, Etho, so don’t worry!”

“Good! It’s gonna be a blast!” said Etho.

“I’m so excited for it,” said Pause.

“It’ll be a lot more fun now that we know Nebs, Pause, Millbee, and Annette,” said Beef.

BdoubleO hadn’t said anything for most of the night. Nebris was worried about him. Usually, BdoubleO was the life of the party, but ever since he and Guude had broken up, he was a lot more quiet and reserved. It made him sad to see BdoubleO that way.  
He left the conversation and went to talk to him.

“Bdubs, are you okay?”

“Fine, fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Uh,” he didn’t really want to bring it up. “I don’t know. You’ve just been awfully quiet.”

“Just haven’t felt like talking.”

“Okay.”

“Great party, Nebs!” said Beef, pulling him away from Bdubs.

“Yeah. It was lovely,” said Pause.

“Well, I’ve got to go. Got a plane to catch early in the morning,” said Guude.

“We should probably get going too,” said Millbee gesturing to himself, Annette, Pause, and Beef who had all come together.

“Okay! Thanks for coming! I’m glad you all had fun!”

Now it was just Etho, BdoubleO, and himself.

“How did your finals go, Nebris?” Etho asked.

“I think they went well. Thanks so much for your help!”

“Anything for you! I felt partially responsible too for distracting you.”

“Don’t worry about it! I let myself be distracted! I don’t like English very much.” 

“You two. Stop flirting over there and come dance with me! Is this a party or isn’t it?” said BdoubleO, all of a sudden while turning up the music.

Nebris and Etho both blushed and looked away from each other and got up to join BdoubleO. 

The three friends spent the rest of the night dancing and laughing and then Etho said,

“Bdubs, we should probably get back to my house. My mom will probably be wondering what’s keeping us.”

“You’re right. I’m just gonna use the bathroom quickly.”

“Okay.”

Nebris and Etho sat in silence until Nebris cleared his throat and said,

“I have something for you,” 

“Nebris, I thought you said no presents.”

“Well, it’s not really a present, per se, just something I have been wanting to give you.”

“Okay, what is it?”

Before Nebris could turn back, he leaned in and kissed Etho. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought Etho was kissing him back. The kiss lasted several moments until Bdubs exclaimed,

“Oh my gosh! YES!”

The two broke away instantly, their faces red from being discovered. In fact, Nebris had forgotten Bdubs was even there at his house still. 

“I’ll be in the car, Etho. Come out when you’re ready,” Bdubs said as he winked and then left. 

“You don’t know how long I’ve dreamed about doing that,” Nebris said.

“I wonder if it’s the same amount of time I’ve been dreaming about it,” Etho replied, “but it was even better than I could have ever imagined it.”

“So what now?” Nebris asked.

“Let’s finish what we started,” Etho said as he and Nebris started kissing again. 

Eventually, Nebris broke away. “Bdubs is still waiting for you in the car,” he said regrettably. “He’s probably freezing. You should probably get home. I’ll see you at your party, if not before then.”

“You’re right. Good night, Nebs.”

“Good night, Etho.”

BdoubleO:

BdoubleO had been waiting quite some time now in the car, but he didn’t mind. It looked as if Etho and Nebris were finally getting together after months of crushing on each other. He was happy to see all of his friends in relationships, but he couldn’t help feeling a little sad. He missed Guude terribly, but every time he thought of the events that had lead up to their break-up, he would become angry all over again. 

Lost in his thoughts, BdoubleO didn’t see Etho come out to the car. It was only when Etho opened the door that he snapped back to reality.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Etho said once he was in the car.

“Not a problem. I’m happy to see that you two finally acted on your feelings.”

“Wait, you knew he liked me?”

“No, not for sure, but I always suspected. So, tell me everything. How did you two getting together happen? Who started the kiss? What was it like?”

“Nebris kissed me first and it was incredible.”

“Really? That’s all you’re going to give me?”

“Well, I’ve already broken the ‘never kiss and tell’ rule, now haven’t I?”

“Actually, that rule was broken when I walked in the room and saw you two kissing.”

The two laughed and chatted about the party until they got home. They both went to bed.

Ordinarily, BdoubleO would’ve spent Christmas Eve with Guude, cooking and attempting to wrap and hide the presents they each bought last minute for each other (neither of them were very good at shopping in a timely manner). Since the two had broken up and Guude was visiting his parents, that was entirely out of the question. He decided that since Etho and his mother had been so kind to him, he would cook them a nice meal for Christmas Eve as a way of saying thank you. 

Etho and his mother were out of the house, doing last-minute shopping for Christmas dinner and so BdoubleO used this time to decide what to make and to gather the ingredients. 

When Etho and Mrs. Slab got home, the meal was almost done. BdoubleO had prepared a pork roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and rolls. He had also made a chocolate pudding pie for dessert.

“Bdubs, what’s all this?” Etho asked.

“You two have been so gracious to me and I am so grateful to have you in my life and so I decided to cook you this meal as a small token to show my gratitude.”

“Oh, BdoubleO, this is so sweet! And it looks delicious!” said Mrs. Slab.

“Plus, I knew you were dreading having to cook tonight because there’s so much cooking to be done on Christmas day. I also wanted to offer my assistance with cooking tomorrow if you should need or want it.”

“Thank you so much, BdoubleO,” said Mrs. Slab, giving him a hug. “I see you as a second son pretty much, so I am happy to help you in whatever way you need. I’m also glad you get to spend this Christmas here with us.”

The three ate the meal and had pleasant conversation.

Christmas at the Slab house was an extremely busy, but happy occasion. In the morning, Mrs. Slab and Etho and BdoubleO all exchanged gifts. Then they spent the entire day preparing Christmas dinner and then they sat down and enjoyed it. After dinner, Etho had Nebris over and Mrs. Slab got to meet him officially for the first time. 

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Nebris. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Yeah. It’s nice to meet you too,” Nebris said shyly.

Etho put his arm around Nebris and Nebris laid his head on Etho’s shoulder.

“I meant to tell you this yesterday, Mom, but we got so busy I forgot. Nebris and I are officially dating as of two days ago.”

“Aww, honey, that’s great! Well, it’s been an eventful couple of days and I’m tired so I’m going to bed. Have a good night!”

“You too, Mom,” said Etho. “See, Nebs, I told you that’d go well!”

“Yeah, I don’t know why I was so nervous.”

BdoubleO, Etho, and Nebris talked for a while and then Etho took Nebris home.

BdoubleO went to bed, sad that another wonderful Christmas had passed.

Beef:

Beef was pretty excited for Christmas. Millbee was hosting a little party at his place, so it would be a pretty low-key day. He got to Millbee’s a little early, but because only three people were invited, he was actually the last one to arrive. For dinner, Millbee made a ham and there were lots of delicious-looking side dishes. Each of the guests contributed to the meal somehow. Pause had provided the wine, Annette had made dessert, and Beef had made the vegetables. It was going to be a nice, quiet Christmas. 

Shortly after dinner, Pause’s phone started ringing. 

“I’m so sorry, guys, I don’t have any clue who would be calling me on Christmas.” 

He answered it. “Hello?”

From the look on Pause’s face, whomever was calling and whatever they were saying displeased him and Beef waited anxiously for the conversation to end so that he could talk to Pause about it. 

“Okay, yeah, I will. Alright. See you in a few.” He hung up, took a deep breath, and then said,

“Beef, may I talk to you in the other room for a sec?”

“Sure,” Beef said, curious.

“That was my mother on the phone.”

“Oh? What did she want?”

“She wants to see me. She said that she and my father have a present for me and she said it doesn’t seem right not seeing their son on Christmas.” Pause said scornfully. 

“So, are you gonna go?”

“What other choice do I have? I told her I would go.”

“Well, at least she’s making an effort, Pause. You have to give her that.”

“I don’t have to give her anything. Geez, Beef, whose side are you on?”

“Woah, woah. I wasn’t aiming to pick a fight. I was just trying to be reasonable.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. Will you come with me? I know it sounds silly, but I don’t think I can face them alone.”

“Of course.”

Once Pause explained the situation to Millbee and Annette, the two of them got into Beef’s car and drove towards Pause’s parents’ house. 

They arrived and Pause and Beef stood on their doorstep. Pause raised his fist to the door hesitantly.

“C’mon, man. You can do it!”

Pause rolled his eyes. “Let’s just get this over with,” he said as he knocked on the door. 

Pause’s mom answered the door. She seemed surprised to see Beef there with Pause.

“Oh. I had thought you were going to be alone,” she said.

“Mom, be nice. This is Beef. He’s my boyfriend and I brought him here for moral support.”

“Boyfriend? Why haven’t we heard about this?” Pause’s father said as he entered the room.

“Hi, dad. Good to see you too. You hadn’t heard about it because, in case you’ve forgotten, we are not exactly on speaking terms.” 

“Oh,” said Mrs. Unpause, looking disappointed. “I was kind of hoping when you agreed to come over that we could fix that and that you would come home.”

Pause laughed darkly. “Come home? To you two constantly criticizing my every move? No thank you.” 

“Pause, don’t talk to your mother that way,” said Mr. Unpause sternly. 

“I’m not a child anymore, okay? I’m 18 now and Beef and I are gonna get an apartment together and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Beef was very uncomfortable to be stuck witnessing this fight, but when he heard Pause’s statement about the apartment, he started freaking out. Pause wanted him to move in with him? He had never agreed to this. They hadn’t ever talked about it. In fact, this was the first he was hearing about it. 

“Umm, Pause. I need to talk to you,” Beef said.

“Okay, well, this was fun, but I’m gonna go talk to my boyfriend now. Merry Christmas,” Pause said shortly and then he and Beef left.

Once they were in the car, Pause said,

“I’m sorry you had to see that, Beef.”

“Pause, I don’t appreciate you using me as a way to get back at your parents. And the thing about the apartment, you, well, you never even mentioned it to me and then you’re just throwing it out casually in conversation and expecting me to go along with it? That’s not fair.”

“Are you saying you don’t want to move in with me?”

“I’m just, I’m not ready. We’ve only been together for nearly three months. That’s moving a little quickly, don’t you think?” 

“I can’t believe this. I was gonna surprise you, that’s why I didn’t tell you, but now I find out you don’t wanna move in with me. Do you even like me?”

“What? Of course I do. That’s not what this is about. You can’t go making huge, important life decisions without consulting me especially when they involve me. If you had just talked to me about it, given me a little notice, maybe my answer would be different.”

“Well now I’m not even offering, so, sorry.”

“Pause, what is wrong with you? You are acting like a child.”

“You know what? I’m done with this conversation. I’ll just walk the rest of the way to Millbee’s.”

“No, Pause. It’s dark outside and cold. Just let me take you there, so I know you get home safely.”

“What do you care?” Pause asked as he got out of the car and slammed the door shut. 

Beef drove into an empty parking lot and just sat there for a while, tears streaming down his face. He didn’t even understand why Pause was angry. Shouldn’t he be the one who was angry? But now all he was was extremely sad. He and Pause had never fought before and he didn’t know how to fix this. 

“What a rotten end to Christmas,” Beef said as he drove home. 

Guude:

Guude’s flight was a tiring one. He sat next to a very chatty elderly woman and a little kid whose goal seemed to make Guude have an unpleasant experience on the flight. He heaved a sigh of relief when the plane finally landed and he could go greet his parents. 

They seemed very happy to see him. It had been a while since they had seen their son, heck, since they had even talked to him. He had been pretty busy with finals lately. 

“Hey, honey,” said Mrs. Boulderfist.

“Son, it’s good to see you,” said Mr. Boulderfist.

“Where’s BdoubleO? We assumed he’d be coming with you.”

Guude’s stomach clenched. He hadn’t told his parents about the break-up and he was dreading doing so. After all, it had been because of BdoubleO that he had been able to stay behind. 

“Hey, mom, dad. It’s good to see you too!” said Guude.

“Honey, you didn’t answer my question. Is everything okay with you two?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it right now. Can we just go to your house and have a nice Christmas please? After Christmas, I will tell you all about it.” 

“Okay, dear. Come on. Ah, it’s so good to see you! How has school been?”

The ride to his parents’ house was spent with them catching up. His dad told him all about his new job and his mom had found a nice job as well. Guude talked about schoolwork and his friends, except for BdoubleO, of course. 

They arrived at the house and Guude gasped. In front of him was the biggest, most gorgeous house he had ever seen. 

“You can have whichever room you want. We have four potential guest rooms. We’ve never used any of them. You’re our first guest, isn’t that special?” his mother said. 

Once they had given a tour of the house, his parents and he sat down to a nice Christmas Eve dinner.

After dinner, his mother said,

“You must be pretty jet-lagged.”

“Mom, I didn’t travel for that long…”

“Oh, yeah, that’s true. It just seems like you’re so far away.”

“Yeah. I’ve missed you two.”

“Really? You have?”

“Yeah, but it was going to be like this eventually anyway. It just came a year early for you guys.”

“That’s true.”

Guude talked to his parents for a while and then they all went to bed. In the morning, the Boulderfists exchanged gifts, spent the day together singing Christmas carols and playing games, and then they had a fancy Christmas dinner.

“Thank you, mom and dad, for letting me come see you. It’s been really nice.”

“I’m glad you think so. It’s been really nice seeing you.”

“I’ve still got tomorrow and then I head back.”

“True.”

The next morning, at breakfast, Guude told his parents what had happened between him and BdoubleO. Every last detail. Even the fact that he had punched Genny in the face, twice. He wanted to own up to his mistakes and so he didn’t exclude anything. 

“I feel really bad for what happened,” Guude finished. “I want to give our relationship another try, but BdoubleO won’t even look at me, let alone talk to me.”

Guude’s parents exchanged a look and then Guude’s father said,

“I’m so sorry, son. That must be hard to deal with.”

“Yeah,” said Guude.

“Guude,” his mother began, “Your father and I were wondering if you wanted to come live with us seeing as how you don’t have a place to stay and you and BdoubleO are broken up-,”

“I have a place to stay. He left the apartment, so I’m staying there. I don’t know where he’s staying, to be honest. And I haven’t given up hope. I’m going to fight for him with every fiber of my being. I can’t just let him go. I love him far too much for that. I’m sorry. You have a lovely place here and I’m glad that everything is going so well for you, but my life is back there with him. I just have to find a way to make everything okay again.” 

“Wow. That’s very noble of you,” said Mrs. Boulderfist.

The next couple of hours, Guude packed his stuff back up and said goodbye to his parents. He spent his entire flight back thinking of ways to win BdoubleO back. 

BdoubleO:

The week had passed quickly and before BdoubleO knew it, it was the day of Etho’s big New Years’ party. Etho was cleaning the house and had asked him if he could pick up some items for the party at the grocery store. 

He was almost done with his shopping when he ran into literally the last person he wanted to see ever, someone he thought he would never see again-Generikb. 

“Oh, it’s you,” sneered Generik.

“Yeah. I shop at grocery stores. Go figure,” said BdoubleO.

“Be sure to thank Guude for me. I had to get a nose job because of how hard he punched me.” 

“What?” BdoubleO asked, shocked. This was the first time he was hearing about how Guude had reacted after BdoubleO had talked to him that day. He had defended him? He had punched Generik in the face?

“You heard me. Whatever. Well I got to go. Can’t be seen talking to the likes of you,” Generik said and walked away. 

BdoubleO had to think about this. This news changed everything. As soon as he had heard what Generik had said about his nose, he wasn’t mad anymore. Guude had defended him, even though they were already broken up. Guude really did love him.  
BdoubleO bought a six pack of beer and drove to Etho’s house. He put away the items he had bought for Etho and then went to his room to think and drink. He was afraid he had blown everything. It had been quite some time since the break-up. What if Guude didn’t want to be with him anymore? What if Guude had moved on? What if Guude was seeing someone else? All of these questions ate at BdoubleO as he downed all six of the beers he had purchased only a short time before. 

The party was about to start and people were about to arrive and BdoubleO was sitting in his room, wasted and upset. He knew he had to get up, shower, and change. He knew he had to act like everything was okay and that he was fine. At least people would be drinking at this party, so that part of his appearance wouldn’t stand out so much. 

He stumbled down the stairs and Etho, finishing up some cleaning, looked up at him.

“Bdubs, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just these damned stairs! I almost tripped on ‘em.” BdoubleO, when drunk, slurred his words pretty badly and evidently it was noticeable when Etho asked,

“Are you already drunk?”

“Etho, I really, really don’t want to talk about it right now, okay? Yes I am, but soon enough I won’t be the only one.”

Guests started arriving and the festivities commenced. There was a lot of happy chatter, laughter, and as Bdubs had predicted, drinking. 

Etho and Nebris, the resident non-drinkers of the group, had designated themselves as the drivers to ensure everyone got home safely. Beef sat down next to them, beer in hand.

“I’m really not gonna have more than this one probably,” he said. “I don’t want to have a headache in the morning.”

“Smart thinking. Where’s Pause? I’m sure he’s gonna have a really bad one tomorrow,” Etho said laughing, that is, until he saw the look on Beef’s face. “Beef? What’s wrong? Did something happen between you two?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to get into it right now.”

“Okay.”

Guude and Pause were dancing pretty badly in the middle of the room. Millbee and Annette were singing karaoke and BdoubleO was sitting in the corner, looking like he was having very little, if any, fun. 

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” BdoubleO announced to no one in particular.

Guude was coming back from the bathroom when BdoubleO was headed that way.

“Hey, Guude.” BdoubleO said, leaning on him. 

Guude seemed surprised, shocked, really, that BdoubleO was talking to him. He was also surprised at how extremely intoxicated he was. Sure, Guude was headed that way himself and BdoubleO had a lower alcohol tolerance than him, but the party hadn’t been going on for all that long…

“Hey, BOO, what’s up?”

“I wanna talk to you.”

“Okay, sure. Yeah. Lead the way.”

BdoubleO went to the room he had been staying in and Guude followed. He shut the door and said,

“I ran into Generik today.”

“Oh? Did you?”

“Yeah. He was an asshole as usual, but that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. He said something pretty interesting.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. He said to thank you for breaking his nose so badly he needed plastic surgery.”

“Oh. Oh my.”

“Yeah. It made me realize that I just want you back. You defended me and that really shows that you love me, but I’m just afraid you won’t have me back. I wouldn’t blame you if you wo-,” Bdubs was forced to stop talking as Guude kissed him. 

“BOO, I missed you too. I was stupid. You were right. I shouldn’t have to change who I am just to impress some old friend from grade school.”

“I’m so sorry, Guude. For everything, especially for yelling at you that day in the closet. I kinda lost it.”

“There is something I’ve been wondering about that day.”

“What?”

“You said something like ‘I was right there and I love you for you’. Love, as in present, not past. You still loved me then?”

“Of course! I never stopped loving you, even when I was hurt. Please, stay right here. I really do have to go to the bathroom.”

“Anything for you.”

Once he went to the bathroom, he returned to his room to find Guude laying on the bed. BdoubleO laid down next to him, cuddling him in his arms. The two talked about various things until Guude said,

“BOO,”

“Yeah?”

“When I was apart from you, I realized something.”

“What did you realize?”

“That I don’t want to be away from you ever again. You are my best friend and my world without you was a sad one. You are the love of my life-,”

BdoubleO sobered up upon hearing these words. He was fairly certain he knew where this speech was going.

“BOO, what I’m trying to say is, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” said BdoubleO, sobbing.

The two laid side-by-side until they both fell asleep in each other’s arms. 

Etho:

“Where did Bdubs go? He said he needed to go to the bathroom hours ago.” Etho said.

“I haven’t seen Guude either,” said Beef.

“Did they leave? It wasn’t that late!” said Pause. “Let’s search around the house. Maybe they’re passed out drunk somewhere.”

Etho headed to the bathroom. The door was open and no one was in there. He checked his room. No one there either. Next he checked BdoubleO’s temporary room and what he saw made him smile.

BdoubleO and Guude were snuggling each other on the bed, fast asleep.

Etho quietly closed the door and returned to the living room.

“Well, I don’t think Bdubs will be needing that guest room for much longer.”

“What do you mean?”

Etho explained what he had found and Nebris and Beef squealed.

“Yes! They’re back together!” exclaimed Pause. 

“I knew they would be eventually!” said Nebris. 

“But we can’t let on that we know. We have to let them tell us, okay?” said Etho.

Everyone agreed. Etho offered to let everyone stay the night and one-by-one, the friends drifted off to sleep. 

BdoubleO:

When BdoubleO first woke up, he had no idea where he was, but then he saw Guude lying next to him, asleep, and a small portion, the most important portion,in his opinion, of what had happened the night before, came back to him. 

He got out of bed, showered, and changed his clothes. Although he had had probably the most to drink of anyone yesterday, his head didn’t hurt that badly. He grabbed a couple of aspirin and a glass of water and went back into the bedroom where Guude was starting to wake up.

“Good morning!” BdoubleO said in a sing-song voice.

“BOO, how are you even functioning today? I had way less than you and my head hurts like a mofo.”

“I’m just in the greatest mood today. I haven’t been this happy for a long time. Three guesses why?” BdoubleO leaned down to kiss Guude on the cheek and then handed him the aspirin and the water.

“Thank you, BOO. I love you!”

“I love you too. I’m gonna go make breakfast for everyone! You go on back to sleep!”

Etho:

When Etho and Nebris arrived in the kitchen shortly after, they were surprised to see Bdubs humming softly to himself, cooking pancakes.

“Good morning, lovelies! How are you this fine morning?”

“Hey, Bdubs. Feeling alright?” Etho asked, with a wide smile on his face.

“Never better.” 

“That’s good to hear.” Nebris chimed in.

“Pause should be down shortly, but he’s not in a good mood, just to warn you. Beef’s in the shower and Millbee and Annette are both still asleep. Knowing Millbee, he’ll probably sleep most of the day. But I haven’t seen where Guude disappeared off to.” Etho added that last part to see how Bdubs would react, but his expression didn’t change, didn’t even falter. 

“Well, there’s plenty of pancakes to go around! Is your mom going to want some, Etho?”

“My mom’s not here. She’s out of town, remember?”

“Oh yeah. That’s right. Well, that’s too bad. She’s gonna miss out on my delicious pancakes.”

“Etho, I am going to kill you,” yelled a voice.

“Oh, Pause is here!” said BdoubleO. When Pause stumbled into the kitchen, BdoubleO said to him.

“Honey, whatever Etho did or said, you can get him back later. For now, have a pancake and hush up. There are people still sleeping in this house.”

“What did you do to him?” Nebris whispered.

“I was hoping Beef and him would settle their differences if they woke up in the same bed, but I had forgotten how aggressive Pause is when hungover. I sure hope Beef is okay.”

“How does he know it was you?”

“Nebris, please. Who else would it have been?”

“True.”

“What are you boys whispering about over there?” BdoubleO asked as he placed a plate of pancakes in front of each of them. 

Pause spent the entire meal glaring at Etho and then when he was almost done, Beef came in the room. Pause hurriedly ate his last few bites and then, before exiting the room, whispered to Etho,

“This isn’t over. You will pay.”

Etho felt bad for what he had done once he got a good look at Beef. The guy looked miserable and he also looked like he was in pain?

“Beef, are you alright there?” BdoubleO asked, evidently also noticing Beef’s grimace.

“No, not really. I got pushed out of the bed really hard and I know for a fact it wasn’t an accident. I don’t even know how Pause got there. I went to bed before him.”

“Beef,” Etho started apologetically, “That’s my fault. I am so sorry. I thought if you two woke up next to each other you’d realize that whatever you were fighting about was silly and that you’d make up.” 

“Etho, how could you do that, man? You know what Pause is like when he’s angry, let alone what he’s like hungover. Put the two together and just yikes. What we’re fighting about isn’t silly and I don’t even understand why Pause is mad! I’m the one who should be mad!”

“If you don’t mind my asking, what are you two fighting about?” Nebris asked. 

“He wanted to get his own apartment and he wanted me to move in with him, but he never even mentioned it to me. He just threw it out in a conversation with his parents last week and seemed to expect that I would just go along with it. I’m not ready for that.” 

“His parents? He hasn’t talked to them in a long time!” Etho said. 

“Yeah, well, on Christmas they called and wanted to see him and he took me over there with him. They didn’t seem to like me and the whole time I had to witness Pause fight with his parents.”

“Beef, I wouldn’t feel bad about them not liking you. From what Pause has said about them, they are not easy people to please.” BdoubleO said. “As for the moving in thing, that is an awfully big step for what is it, three months?” 

“That’s what I said! The only reason I’m angry is now Pause is holding one of his childish grudges because I said I didn’t want to move in with him.”

“He’ll get over it eventually, Beef. Hang in there, man,” said Bdubs. 

The guys finished breakfast and helped Etho clean up the house, which was a mess from the party last night. Then they all sat around and talked. Etho filled Beef in on what had happened after pretty much everyone had left Nebris’s house, with BdoubleO contributing the information about how he had discovered the two kissing.

“I was so excited, you had no idea! I waited in the car for Etho and it took him thirty minutes to come out!”

Etho hit Bdubs’ arm. “It did not, you liar.”

“Oh yes it did! What were you doing in there, anyway?”

Nebris blushed and Etho said, “Listen, let’s just change the subject.”

“Uh-huh. Change the subject cuz you know Ol’ Bdubs is right.”

The group all laughed and then stopped when they saw Guude.

“Hey, Guude. Is everything alright?” Etho asked.

“Does your head hurt too badly?” asked Beef. 

“Were we too loud?” Nebris timidly asked. 

“Yes, everything’s fine. My head’s okay and no, you weren’t too loud. I smelled pancakes and I was wondering if there were any left.”

“Yes, I put the leftovers in the fridge,” said BdoubleO. “Let me get them for you.”

Guude: 

When they got to the kitchen, Guude asked,

“Are we going to tell them?”

“I want all of them to be there when we tell them, so not yet.”

“Ah, BOO, I don’t want to go on pretending like we’re fighting or only being civil to each other. As far as they know, that’s the first time you’ve spoken to me in months.”

“I know, honey, but the others will be so disappointed if everyone gets to hear the news before them.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Guude, please.”

“Okay. We can wait.”

“Good. Enjoy your breakfast.”

As Guude was eating, he heard Etho exclaim, “Bdubs, you talked to him! You actually talked to him!”

“Yeah, well, I did make breakfast for everyone. It was only fair.”

Guude smiled to himself, finished his pancakes, and joined Etho, Nebris, BdoubleO, and Beef in the living room. 

“So, Guude, how was your trip?” Beef asked.

“It was nice. My parents have this massive house and they tried to convince me to come live with them.”

“What?!” Etho asked.

“Yeah. I told them that I can’t because-,” Guude didn’t realize what he was about to say until he had almost said it. 

“Because?” Nebris asked.

Guude opened his mouth, trying desperately to think of something, anything he could tell them instead of the real reason, but he was saved by Millbee and Annette coming into the room. 

“Morning, everyone,” Millbee muttered. 

“Good morning, Millbee. How are you?” Guude asked.

“Eh. Doing okay.”

“And Annette, how are you?”

“Pretty good.”

“There are pancakes in the fridge, here let me go get them for you! Do you want milk too?” 

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” Millbee replied.

BdoubleO:

“Well, that was…strange,” BdoubleO said. Guude had been acting as if he really didn’t want to finish that sentence. I need to remember to ask him what that was about later. 

“What was strange?” asked Pause, emerging from his room, rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, it’s nothing really. Guude was just acting weird.”

“You’ve been talking to Guude?” Pause asked seemingly surprised.

“Oh, no, he was just talking to the group of us.”

Guude came back from the kitchen just then and said,

“Pause, hey! Feeling better?”

“Not really, no.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” 

When everyone was gathered in the living room, some far more energetic than others, BdoubleO and Guude stood up. 

“Everyone, Guude and I have an announcement to make,” said BdoubleO, grabbing Guude’s hand. “Guude and I are getting married.”

The look on everyone’s faces was pure shock. No one had been expecting that. 

“We just thought you were getting back together,” Etho said.

“This is huge!” said Pause.

“Wait, you guys knew?”

“We couldn’t find you last night so we went searching and found the both of you asleep in each other’s arms. We just assumed you were getting back together. The getting married part is news to us,” said Etho. 

“There’s gonna be a wedding!” said Beef jumping up and down.

“Oi! There are still people with hangovers here! Geez!” Pause said, scowling at Beef. 

“Well maybe you shouldn’t drink so much and then you wouldn’t have that problem.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t tell me how to live my life!”

“Guys, guys! Stop fighting! This is BdoubleO and Guude’s big moment. Don’t spoil it!” said Nebris.

“Thank you for that, Nebris,” said BdoubleO. 

“Wow. This is just so exciting, you guys!” Beef said. 

“Do you know when the wedding is?” Millbee asked.

“No plans have been made yet, but as soon as we know, we will let all of you know.”

The friends all celebrated for a little longer before finally parting ways after the long New Years’ gathering, well, all of them except Guude, BdoubleO, and Etho, seeing how it was Etho’s house.

Guude helped BdoubleO pack up his things to return to their apartment. BdoubleO turned to Etho and gave him a big hug.

“Thank you for all you and your mom have done for me, Etho. I don’t know how I can ever repay your kindness to me.”

“Don’t worry about it, Bdubs. That’s what friends are for.”

“Come on, BOO. Let’s go home,” Guude said. 

“Home. That’s sounds nice. See you around, Etho. Thanks for everything!”

“I’ll see you at school next week!”

“Ugh. School. Don’t remind me,” he replied.

 

Once they were home, Guude and BdoubleO spent some time just talking. They hadn’t done that in months and it felt really good.   
“Guude,”

“Yes, BOO?”

“I’ve been thinking about something.”

“What is it?”

“Earlier, when you were talking about why you refused your parents’ offer, what was your reasoning?”

“Oh. That. I told them that my life was back here with you and I just had to find some way to make everything right.”

“You really said that?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet!”

“No, you’re sweet!”

“No, you!”

“It’s so good to have you back, BOO.”

“Yeah. It’s good to be back.”

Beef:

Waking up for school on Monday was a very difficult experience. So much craziness had happened over the break. Nebris and Etho had gotten together, BdoubleO and Guude had reunited and were getting married, and Pause still hadn’t spoken to him since he told him not to tell him how to run his life. 

The first half of the school day passed by very slowly. When he got to lunch, Beef was happy to see that the two tables had recombined to form one happy table. Everyone was there, except for Pause.

“Where’s Pause?”

“He hasn’t come here yet. He’ll probably be here soon,” said BdoubleO. 

They all ate lunch, but Beef kept waiting for Pause to show up. He wanted to talk to him, to try to reason with him, but he never came. 

Every day, the same thing happened and this went on for a week. BdoubleO and Guude were making wedding plans every day, Nebris and Etho were so cute together it sometimes made Beef sick, and he hadn’t seen Pause since New Years’ Day. 

“Hey, Beef,” BdoubleO said, sitting next to him at lunch one day. “What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t talked to or even seen Pause in a little over a week. I’m worried about him. I just want us to be able to talk.”

“I know where his new apartment is. Millbee told me. If you want, I could go with you to see him.”

“Oh, would you?” Beef brightened up upon hearing this.

“Of course! I’ll take you there right after school.”

Beef couldn’t wait until after school. Even if all Pause did was slam the door in his face, at least he would have tried, right? 

BdoubleO and Beef set off for Pause’s new apartment. Beef knocked on the door, waiting. There was no answer.

“Well, he’s probably not here yet. I mean, school only let out a half hour ago.”

“Shhh. I think I hear voices.”

BdoubleO knocked. Still no answer. He tried the handle and it opened without a problem.

“Bdubs,” Beef whisper-yelled. “Bdubs, no. What are you doing?”

“Well, he’s not answering and he’s here, what else am I supposed to do?”

“Not go in there?”

Bdubs ignored him and went inside. He came quickly back out and said,

“Well, now’s not really a good time, I think we should go.”

“Bdubs, what is it? What did you see?”

“You’re not going to like it, Beef.” Bdubs said, blocking the door.

“Bdubs, let me in.” Beef pushed past BdoubleO and what he saw made him gasp. Inside the apartment was Pause kissing a girl. 

The gasp made Pause and the girl look up, but Beef didn’t even care that he had been discovered. 

Beef, trying to hold in the tears that were threatening to spill over his lids, turned around and walked out of the apartment without a word. 

Pause:

“Who was that?” asked Miranda, the girl Pause had been kissing only moments ago.

“That was my boyfriend,” Pause replied, regrettably.

“What?! You have a boyfriend and you were kissing me?! You scumbag!” yelled Miranda. “I don’t blame him for leaving. You don’t deserve a guy like that.”

“I’m really sorry-,” Pause said.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” Miranda said as she stormed out of the room.

Pause was very angry at himself. He had been avoiding Beef for the past week or so, upset because he didn’t think Beef liked him because he didn’t want to move in with him. He knew that Miranda was right. He didn’t deserve Beef. He made a stupid mistake. He had been trying to get back at Beef for hurting him. Beef was right. He was childish and stupid and petty. All Beef had ever done “to him” was not be ready to move into an apartment with him. And now what Pause had done to him was much, much worse.   
He had screwed everything up majorly and had no clue how to fix it. He called BdoubleO for help. If anyone knew how to help him, it would be Bdubs. The guy had advice for practically every situation imaginable.

“Hey, Bdubs. Listen, I-,”

“Let me cut you off, right there, Pause. I am not going to help you. I was there with Beef and I saw the whole thing. I cannot believe you would do that to him. I am disgusted. I’ve got to go.” Bdubs hung up.  
He had never heard Bdubs talk like that to anyone before and it was aimed at him.

“Oh Pause, you really fucked this one up.”

School the next day was awful. For the past week, he had been sitting with some of the student council members, but their table was “all full” meaning they didn’t want to be seen with him. Man, word sure traveled fast around this school, especially when it involved the student body president. Next, he tried his old table, but Bdubs gave him a look that said ‘don’t even think about coming here.’ Finally, he sat at a table all by himself and ate his lunch silently. 

Etho:

“What was that all about, BdoubleO?” Etho asked, referring to the dirty look he had shot Pause moments previously. 

BdoubleO looked at Beef who nodded.

“Pause cheated on Beef.”

“What?!”

“That dirty son of a bitch!” said Guude. 

“I’m so sorry, Beef,” said Nebris. 

“I just went over there to try to fix things with him and then I saw that. I don’t think things are fixable anymore,” said Beef.

“That is so awful,” said Etho. “Come here, buddy.” Etho gave Beef a hug and the guys spent the rest of lunch trying to cheer up Beef. 

“Want us to go beat him up for you?” asked Guude. “I once punched a guy so hard in the face it made him have to have plastic surgery.”

“Okay, one, I wouldn’t go around telling people that and two, I still love him so I don’t want anyone to hurt him. I just want some space from him.”

“Are you going to end things with him?”

“I don’t know yet. I just need to think.”

“Okay sure. We’ll leave you alone now.” Lunch ended then, so the guys had no choice, but to leave Beef alone. 

Etho and Nebris parted ways and Etho headed to his Chemistry class. Unfortunately, Pause was also in that class.

“Etho, can I talk to you?” Pause asked. The two were lab partners and were supposed to be working on an experiment. Up until this point the two had been working in silence.

“Look, don’t give me some lame excuse for what you did to Beef because I don’t want to hear it and Beef deserves better than that. You could have at least had the decency to end things if you were so upset with him, but you didn’t. You just left him hanging and then kissed some random girl. And I don’t even understand why you were upset with him in the first place. At first, he was mad at you, but eventually he got over it and all he wanted to do was talk to you, but you wouldn’t return his calls or talk to him at school. It would seem as if you brought this all upon yourself. I’m done talking to you,” said Etho as he finished up the experiment and started putting the materials away. 

He was fuming. Why did Pause think he could just talk to him like normal when he had just hurt one of the nicest people ever, also, his best friend? He shook the thought aside. He had other, more important things to think about. 

After his confrontation with Pause, if one could even call it that, Etho put all of his effort into what he would do for Valentine’s Day in about a month. He barely saw Nebris as the two were both getting back into the routine of having school. Before he knew it, Valentine’s Day was fast approaching and Etho wanted to make it special for Nebris. January had been a crazy month and he had barely had any alone time with his boyfriend. When the day finally arrived, Etho picked Nebris up at his house mid-afternoon and took off driving. 

“Where are we going, Etho?”

“If I told you then it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?”

“Ugh,” Nebris whined. “Ethooo,”

“Just be patient, Nebs, we’ll be there soon.”

‘There’ happened to be the top of the tallest building in town. Etho had worked it out with the owners and they had given him permission to set up a little table for dinner. 

It took quite a while to get there, but when they finally did arrive, Etho had Nebris close his eyes. 

“I’ll guide you. Don’t worry.”

When they got into the elevator, Etho let Nebris open his eyes. 

“An elevator? Where are we going?”

“Wait just a little bit more. You’ll see.”

After a few minutes, the elevator door opened and Nebris and Etho were on the top of the building. 

“Well, what do you think?”

“Wow. Etho, this is amazing! It’s such a good view! You can see everything from here pretty much!”

“Yep! I thought you’d like that.”

Etho had hired a violin player and he was playing near the table. The table had a purple tablecloth and two lit candles in the center. 

There was a waiter who came and took their orders.

“Wow. Etho, this is so nice! You always think of the most incredible things to do!”

“Well I care about you so much and I want you to have a good time!”

“Thank you! Now, I have a gift for you.”

“Ah, Nebs, you didn’t have to get me a gift.”

“Don’t be silly, it’s Valentine’s Day! And I wanted to!”

Etho unwrapped his gift and it was a photo album and right in the center of the front cover was the picture of Etho holding Nebris at Homecoming. He opened it and Nebris had put little items and pictures from each date they had had. He even had the date when he had first met Etho listed in the front of the book. 

“Oh wow, Nebris. This is such a wonderful gift. I’m all choked up,” said Etho, with tears glimmering in his eyes. “How long did you spend on this?”

“I’ve been working on it for a couple weeks now. Do you really like it?”

“I love it!” Etho gave Nebris a peck on the cheek and then their dinner arrived. 

The two spent the rest of the evening lying on a blanket side-by-side, looking up at the stars. 

“I could never have imagined a more perfect ending to this night,” said Nebris.

Guude:

Guude and BdoubleO didn’t really do anything special for Valentine’s Day. After all, they figured all they really needed was each other anyway. They spent the evening planning their wedding and they had some wine and then the two of them curled up together on the couch and watched a movie. 

When the movie ended, Guude tried to move, but BdoubleO placed a hand on his shoulder and said,

“Guude, I want to talk to you about something.”

Guude looked at BdoubleO, questioningly. “What’s up, BOO? Is something wrong?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my, my parents and how what happened between us was the one thing I have never told you about.”

“Oh, BOO, it’s okay! I understand why you haven’t told me and you still don’t have to!”

“But, Guude, we’re getting married and married people don’t keep secrets from each other, at least if you want a good marriage. And I want a good marriage, Guude. I, I need one.”

BdoubleO, always the strong one of the group, hardly ever cried and now that he was starting to break down, it broke Guude’s heart. He had always known that something drastic must have happened between him and his parents, but he didn’t want to invade BdoubleO’s privacy. He respected and loved him too much to do that. 

“When I was 16, I got home from school one day to my parents arguing. They hardly ever argued and so it had me a bit concerned. I hung back, not wanting them to know that I had seen them, but then I, I saw my father hit my mother and I was shocked. I tried to piece together what had happened, but I decided I needed more information, so I started asking my mother questions about how she was doing and things like that, but she wasn’t talking. Then, another day shortly after, it happened again. This time, I didn’t keep quiet, I confronted my mom about it, telling her what I had seen and she called me a liar, but she looked so scared, Guude. Later, when my father left to run an errand, she admitted that, yes, perhaps he had hit her ‘a few times’, but that she still loved him and so she forgave him. I told her that she had to get out of there, but she refused. Sure, forgiveness is a great thing, but sometimes the person is not worthy of that forgiveness and I didn’t see my father as worthy, especially if he wouldn’t stop and I knew he wouldn’t. As soon as I possibly could, I started working out a way for me to be away from that environment and I tried to bring my mom too, but she would not come with me and she said I was disappointing her by ‘betraying’ my father and then she slammed the door in my face. I haven’t talked to either of them since.”

“Oh, wow. I’m so sorry, BOO. That’s terrible!”

“I try so hard to cut out any aspect that would make even remotely similar to my father because I don’t want to be like him and I don’t want to be his son.”

“Oh, dear, you’re not like him. You are kind-hearted, and cheery, and optimistic, and wonderful, and I love you so much! I know that must have been hard for you to share with me, but honestly, the fact that you shared it with me in an attempt to allow us to have a better marriage is very sweet and thoughtful.”

“I’m just glad it’s off my chest, honestly. I’ve never told anyone that before and I’ve been holding it in for so long that it just became too much some days. I hope you don’t think any less of me for any of that.”

“BOO, look at me,” Guude said, gently caressing his face.

BdoubleO looked up, his eyes shining with fresh tears.

“No one should have to stay in a situation like that ever. You did the right thing and you tried to get your mom out of that situation. As sad as it is, your mom refused your help, but I’m glad you got yourself out of there. Because if he had hurt you-,” Guude’s eyes widened in anger and sadness.

“But, he didn’t, Guude. I’m fine. Don’t think about things like that! You’ll only make yourself angry for no reason.”

“I feel terrible.”

“Why?”

“All of this was going on and you and I were dating at the time and I had no idea! I feel so awful! Like I’m a terrible boyfriend.”

“No, don’t think that, Guude! You helped without even realizing I needed it. You were my ray of sunshine in a world that had just clouded over. So please don’t be upset with yourself. I purposefully did a good job of hiding it so you wouldn’t find out, so that’s all on me.”

It was quiet for a while until BdoubleO said,

“Well, I sure ruined Valentine’s Day with the serious, depressing topic.”

“Valentine’s Day is stupid. It only matters that I’m here with you.”

BdoubleO grinned at that and the two looked at each other for a moment before BdoubleO drew Guude’s lips towards his. His lips were soft and Guude felt like he was 16 and falling in love with BdoubleO all over again. Even though what they talked about was sad, it was one of the best Valentine’s Days ever. 

 

Beef:

Beef had settled in to watch corny, sappy romantic movies all night when there was a knock on his door. His mom had gone to bed and usually he didn’t get visitors this late, so he answered it. He should’ve known who it was and not answered the door, but there was no going back now.

“Hi, Pause.” Beef said.

Pause was standing on his doorstep, flowers in hand, looking handsome in his formal attire. No, Beef, stop thinking about how good Pause looks. You’re mad at him. He cheated on you. 

“May I come in?”

“I suppose so.”

Pause entered the house and sat on the couch. “Oh, Love Actually! Such a good movie!”

“Yeah. Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“So talk.”

“Listen, Beef, I feel awful about what I did. I am horrible and I know I am probably the last person you wanted to see tonight, but the fact that you opened the door and let me in gives me hope that maybe we can fix this. I’m so sorry.”

“WE don’t have anything to fix, Pause. You do. I don’t understand why you think you can just come here and we can start back where we left off. I tried to talk to you for a while and you ignored me! I’m sorry I didn’t want to move in with you. Honestly, if that hurt your feelings, I’m extremely sorry. That was not my intention. I just wasn’t ready and it’s evident to me that you weren’t either. I think it would be easier if we just ended things here and now. I’m sorry that’s just how I feel.”  
Pause bowed his head. “I understand. I’m so sorry, Beef.”

Beef nodded and Pause turned to leave. 

“I am such an asshole. I ruined such a wonderful thing.” Pause said with tears in his eyes.

That broke Beef’s heart. He really did love Pause still. Before he knew what he was doing, he was kissing Pause and Pause was kissing him back. During the kiss, all he could think about was the image of Pause kissing Miranda and he broke away, saying,

“I’m sorry,” said Beef. “This is a mistake. I can’t do this.”

Pause left and Beef sat crying on the couch. His mother came down the stairs and saw him. 

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

“That was Pause. I ended things, but then I kissed him. It was stupid, I know, but I still really love him even though I’m mad at him.”

“Love’s weird like that, isn’t it? Now, you’re still young, and you will find someone someday that will treat you the way you deserve to be treated. I just know it.”

“But, Mom, there’s honestly no one else like Pause out there.”

“True…”

“I just need time to figure things out.”

“Do you want my opinion?”

“Sure.”

“Beef, it’s okay if you want to get back together with him. If you think that he can be trusted and won’t do it again, it’s okay to want to be with him again. But if there’s any doubt in your mind, any at all, don’t do it. You’ll only make things worse for yourself.”

“Thanks, mom.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie.”

Beef thought about what his mother had said. He really did love Pause, but at this point in time, he really didn’t think he could get back together with him, at least, not right away. 

Pause:

Pause left Beef’s in a state of disarray. Beef had ended things, but then had kissed him? There was no way this was over. That kiss had given him hope. It had told him that perhaps Beef didn’t feel it would be easier to break up, but that maybe he just needed space. Pause was more than willing to give him that, if it gave him a better chance of getting back with Beef. But what if him backing off was taken as him not caring anymore? What if Beef found someone else because he didn’t see Pause fighting for him?   
Pause decided to call someone he didn’t know all that well, but who he thought could help him with his problems.

Nebris:

Nebris was asleep when his phone rang at one in the morning. He checked his caller ID and did not recognize the number.

“Hello?” Nebris asked groggily.

“Hey, Nebris. It’s Pause. I was wondering if you could meet me for coffee. I want to talk to you.”

“Now? Do you realize what time it is?”

“Yes. I’m sorry it’s so late. Please?”

“One question for you: why should I help you?”

“I know it’s a lot to ask for and that I don’t know you very well, but I’m getting desperate here.” Pause said on the edge of tears.

“Okay, don’t cry. I’ll meet you. Where were you thinking?”

“IHOP.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a few.”

“Thank you so much, Nebris.”

“Yeah yeah.”

He went to IHOP and Pause arrived a few minutes after he did. 

“Now what did you need that couldn’t wait until a reasonable time?”

“I need your advice about what to do about Beef.”

“You are unbelievable,” said Nebris, starting to get up and walk out of the place.

“Wait, Nebris, please. Hear me out because no one else will.”

Pause told Nebris the story of what had happened earlier that night. 

“And you say he broke up with you, but then kissed you?”

“Yeah. And I don’t know what that means and what I’m supposed to do with it.”

“Well, I think you are over-analyzing all of this. Think about this: hypothetically, what would you do if you had been dating someone and they cheated on you?”

“I’d be angry. I’d want some space-oh,” said Pause.

“Exactly, but then we drag the kiss into the equation. Go back to the scenario. Say you really loved that person that cheated on you. It’d be hard to just automatically say ‘I don’t love you anymore’, right?”

“Yeah. So what you’re saying is, he’s in love with me still, but he hates that fact?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t you?”

“I guess so. So are you saying I should just give up?”

“No, of course not. I just wouldn’t jump back in right away, trying to win his affection.”

“Okay, don’t rush things. Got it.”

“Just let things run their course. If it’s meant to be, things will fall right into place eventually. If not, you and he will find other people down the road. Now, can I go? I’m exhausted.”

“Big night?”

“Yeah…Etho and I went out.”

“Aww.”

“Okay, see you around, Pause.”

“Bye, Nebris! Thank you!”

“Uh-huh! Nighty night!”

Nebris was woken up the next day by Etho. 

“Nebris, you overslept! Our movie starts in half an hour!”

“What? Oh my goodness! It’s two o’clock?!”

“Yeah. You never sleep this late. What happened?”

Nebris had a feeling Etho would get mad if he found out where Nebris had been in the middle of the night last night. 

“Uh, I don’t know. I just must’ve been tired.” Nebris was also a really bad liar and he could tell Etho saw right through his lie.

“Nebris? What are you not telling me?”

“Okay, I lied. Pause called me in the middle of the night asking for advice and I met him at IHOP and we talked until three.”

“Pause called you?! What did he want?”

“Someone to listen to him. Which I did.”

“Why?”

“I felt bad for him, okay? I know that what he did to Beef was awful, but everyone’s been so rude to him and I just felt like someone needed to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.”

Etho sighed and said,

“I’m sorry I got so riled up about this. What did he have to say?”

“He wanted to know how to interpret something that happened earlier last night.”

“What happened?”

“Beef broke up with him, but then kissed him.”

“So what did you tell him?”

“I told him to give him some space and if it’s meant to work out, it will.”

“You’re so amazing, you know that?”

“Thank you. I’m sorry I made us miss the movie.”

“That’s okay. It’s not like we were going to watch it anyway,” Etho grinned mischievously. 

“Oh, you are so bad!” said Nebris.

“Am I?” Etho asked, kissing him.

BdoubleO:

“We want you all to be in the wedding!” BdoubleO said to the guys at the lunch table one day shortly before spring break. 

The guys got excited upon hearing this. There were murmured “oohs” and “aahs”. 

“We want you all to be groomsmen, except for you, Beef.”

Beef looked surprised. “Why not me?”

“We have a special job for you.”

“What is it?” asked Beef, looking nervous.

“We want you to marry us!”

“What? I can’t do that!”

“Of course you can! All you have to do is apply for permission to become a Deputy Commissioner of Marriages for the day of our wedding, because it’s only valid for one day, and then you can perform the ceremony!” 

“Oh wow! You guys really want me to perform it?” 

“Yes!” replied Guude and BdoubleO.

“That really means a lot, you guys. So, do you guys know when it is yet?”

“Early June, after graduation.”

“Oh wow. That’s coming up,” said Etho. 

“Indeed. There’s a lot of work to be done, but we both are so excited,” said BdoubleO, putting his arm around Guude. 

“We’re excited for you guys,” said Beef.

It was February, and although the wedding seemed so far away, it would come fast, but before he could be excited about his wedding, BdoubleO had to focus on getting done with his senior year. 

The rest of February and the part of March that came before spring break passed very slowly. The homework was stacking up and BdoubleO was less than pleased about this fact. 

The week before spring break was always the worst. Teachers decided that since a break was coming up, they all had to finish whatever unit they were teaching and have either a test or a major project due.   
BdoubleO was starting to feel extremely stressed. Although he didn’t hate school, all this studying he was having to do wasn’t helping him like it any more. 

On Wednesday night, BdoubleO was studying for a test he had the next day. Being the procrastinator he was, he had put off studying until the night before and now he was faced with having to study. The problem was, he also had a huge history project due and he was afraid he wouldn’t have time to complete both.

“Oh, damn. Why didn’t I do this sooner?” BdoubleO asked himself.

Guude, who had just gotten home from the store, walked through the door and asked,

“What’s wrong, BOO?”

“I’m just an idiot who didn’t start studying for an important test tomorrow until now. Plus I have a project due tomorrow.”

“BOO, what were you doing?!”

“Guude, I really don’t need a lecture right now. I realize I made a mistake, but now I am feeling very stressed, so could you either help me or leave me alone so I can get this stuff done?”

“Okay, what do you need help with?”

“Could you quiz me for the test while I start putting together my history project?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

The project was completed within three hours. It had taken a shorter amount of time to do than BdoubleO had anticipated. After the project was done, Guude continued quizzing him until BdoubleO felt confident about each answer to all the questions on the study guide. 

“Thanks, Guude. I’m sorry I acted snappy earlier. I don’t think I could have gotten this stuff done without you being here.”

“I’m always here to help you if you need it, BOO. I’m sure you’ll do great on your test tomorrow!”

BdoubleO did, in fact, do well on his test the next day. He even thought he aced it, but he didn’t want to be presumptuous. 

A couple days later, on the Friday before break, the teacher passed the tests back so the students could see their scores before the break. BdoubleO was a little nervous to look at his test results, but when he did, he was shocked. He had gotten a perfect score! 

After school that day, BdoubleO found Guude and hugged him tightly.

“What’s this about, BOO?”

“100% and it’s all thanks to you!”

“That’s great, BOO! We need to celebrate this! I’m taking you to dinner tonight!” 

That night, BdoubleO and Guude got dressed up and like he had said he would, Guude took BdoubleO to dinner.

“This is a great way to start off spring break,” said BdoubleO.

Etho:

Though he had denied it, Etho was pretty angry that Pause had called Nebris in the middle of the night and bothered him about Beef. As far as Etho was concerned, he didn’t want Pause to get back together with Beef. Sure, Beef had always wanted to be with Pause, but that fact made Etho worried. Etho had always questioned Beef’s crush on Pause.What if the Pause Beef thought he was dating was not actually the real Pause? What if he was so caught up in everything he wanted Pause to be, that he didn’t actually keep an eye out for who the real Pause was? Now, his suspicions had been confirmed, and as he continued to interact with him, he seemed like a massive jerk, as unfortunate as that was for Beef. 

Shortly before Spring Break started, Etho was running some errands when he ran into Pause at the store. He quickly approached him and grabbed his shoulder fairly aggressively.

“Hey, what-, oh, hi, Etho,” said Pause.

“If you ever call my boyfriend for help with your pathetic little problems again, we are gonna have issues.”

“What? Oh, that. I’m sorry, Etho, but he was the only one who would listen to me.”

“Yeah, because everyone else is mad at you for what you did to Beef!”

“I made a mistake, okay? I realize that, but I’m trying to make things right.”

“Sometimes, when you make a mistake, you just have to accept the consequences.”

“Listen, say what you want to Beef about me, I don’t care, but I’m not giving up. He’s a big boy, he can make his own decisions. He doesn’t need people like you defending him.”

“Yeah, actually, he does. He’s pretty sensitive. Or did you not know that in the very short time you’ve known him?”

“Just because you’ve known him longer, doesn’t mean you love him more.”

“Obviously, I do. I mean, I wasn’t dating him, but if you recall I used to like him and I would’ve done anything to be with him and I never would’ve cheated on him.”

“You’re with Nebris now. Let it go.”

“I was just making a point.”

“I don’t think Nebris would be very happy to hear you speak like that.”

“You stay away from Nebris! You can say whatever whiny little bratty thing you want about me, but don’t bring up Nebris.”

“Are you starting something with me?”

“Maybe I am.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“I’m not scared of you. Do whatever you want to me, but don’t lay a hand on Beef and stay far away from Nebris!” Etho said forcefully as he turned and walked away.

“Hey, Etho?”

“What?” asked Etho, turning around to Pause punching him in the eye. 

“That’s payback for New Year’s.”

“I would learn to control your temper more, Pause. We’re in a place of business,” said Etho as he left the building looking thoroughly pissed off. 

Beef:

Shortly after Christmas, Beef had gotten a job because his mother had suggested he do so to have some savings for college. He knew saving for college was important, and he would never tell his mother this, but he really didn’t have any desire to go to college. He thought back to the conversation he had had with Pause when he had been caring for him while he was sick. Pause was the only person he had ever told about his lack of wanting to go to college.

Every time he thought about college, he was terrified. He didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life and as he kept thinking about it, he didn’t think any amount of money was worth attending school another four years or more. He hated school.   
Beef was not excited for spring break at all because he had to work all week and he had not been enjoying his job. He was a cashier at a coffee shop and people could be so snotty and uptight when it came to their coffee. Beef didn’t even like coffee, it was just the only place that he had applied to that had actually taken an interest in hiring him. On top of his hatred of coffee and his disgust with some of the customers, the people he worked with were super immature and rude. As soon as he was able to, he wanted to quit.

One day during spring break he was working when Pause came in. Beef looked up and panicked internally. Oh no. What is he doing here? I don’t want to talk to him…oh gosh. 

He turned around, desperate to find something to occupy him so that he wouldn’t have to talk to him. 

“Beef, you have a customer,” said his manager.

Beef turned to face Pause and put on an extremely fake smile and in a fake cheery tone said,

“Hello, how can I help you?”

“Beef, I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Yeah, well, now you do. What do you want?”

“To talk to you.”

“Umm, that’s not on the menu, try again?”

Beef’s manager came up to him just then and Beef was afraid he would get lectured about how rude he had been, but instead his manager said, 

“Beef, you really can’t chit-chat on the job.” He turned to Pause and said, apologetically, “I’m sorry, Beef’s working right now, but maybe he can talk later.”  
“I understand,” said Pause. “I’m very sorry for bothering him while he’s at work. I should’ve known better.”

Gosh, he was such a kiss-ass. 

“Could I get a Frappuccino to go?”

“That will be $3.10.”

“Here you go.”

“Thanks, come again!” and then once Pause had left he said, “Hopefully when I’m not here to have to deal with you.” 

Etho:

The Thursday night before spring break, Nebris came into his room bawling his eyes out.

Etho looked up from his studying, shocked. 

“Nebris, what’s wrong?”

“Pause, he, he told m,me about w, what you said about Beef. Do you still like him or something? Do you not like me anymore?”

Damn it. Pause was still getting his revenge and, of course, he had included Nebris in it. Not really surprising though. The guy seemed like a massive jerk. He didn’t know what Beef saw in him. 

“Nebs, honey, of course I like you still. You have to understand that I liked Beef for such a long time and so occasionally, those feelings come back, but they are very minor and I don’t want to act on them. It’s not like I even want them. If I could, I would eliminate them entirely and I push them away whenever they come.”

“Whenever? Does this happen often?”

Etho sighed. “Once or twice recently, but no, not really often.”

That statement didn’t really do anything to cheer Nebris up. Etho was fuming inside, but he remained calm on the outside because Nebris was hurting. He rubbed his back, trying to get him to calm down and eventually he did. Then he looked up at Etho and said,

“Oh my gosh, Etho! What happened to you?”

“Huh?”

“Your eye is bright purple.”

Oh, that…Etho was hoping it would fade away before Nebs could see that.

“Oh, umm, I kinda got in a fight with Pause,” he murmured quietly.

“You what?!”asked Nebris. 

“It was stupid, but I was mad that he called you in the middle of the night that one time and I told him to stay away from you. Other words were exchanged and then he punched me in the eye, saying it was payback from when I put him in Beef’s bed at New Year’s. Evidently, he did not listen to me and still talked to you anyway.”

“Why did you hide it from me? Hiding things only makes it worse, Etho. Yes, I’m hurt right now, but I still care about you and I want what’s best for you. If being with me isn’t that, you need to tell me now because I don’t want to stay in a relationship with someone that’s not fully committed.”

“Nebris, you are what’s best for me. I know that to be true. I have never been so happy as I am when I’m with you. I promise you, I am committed to this relationship.”

“Good. That makes me feel better. Now that that’s settled, I want to talk to you about Pause. I know you are angry with him and it is completely valid. I know Beef is a close friend of yours and Pause betrayed him, but that also is between them. I listened to Pause because it is my belief that everyone, even when in the wrong, deserves a chance to be heard. I don’t want you to fight with him anymore, I don’t care how much he makes you angry. He has a bad temper and your eye looks like it really hurts and I don’t like seeing you hurt. I’m going to go get you some ice.”

He knew Pause had probably kept those feelings of anger at Beef and wanting to seek revenge on Etho festered up inside of him. But it wasn’t his fault that things had gone terribly between him and Beef. He had simply thought that if the two woke up together, they would talk things out and be back together in no time, but after seeing how well that went for trying to get BdoubleO and Guude back together, he should have re-thought things. He realized Beef was right, he shouldn’t have meddled and he did feel bad about that. However, he felt he had every right to tell him to stay away from Beef, his best friend, and he certainly had every right to tell him to stay away from Nebris, his first real love. But as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he knew Nebris was right too about him avoiding fighting with Pause. It would only bring more trouble because although Etho was tall and extremely able to defend himself, Pause did have more strength and a more aggressive temper. He felt that conversation with Nebris had gone better than anticipated. He expected Nebris to not talk to him for a while, but he was very understanding. He hated disappointing Nebris and he hated those small feelings of attraction he still got for Beef every once in a while. When Nebris returned with the ice, their talk was more light-hearted and Etho felt things were okay between them again. 

Spring break could not have come at a better time for Etho. He had been about to go crazy dealing with school, but now there would be a week-long break that he could hopefully spend with Nebris.   
He got home from school that Friday afternoon and was surprised to hear his mother talking to someone…a man Etho had never seen before. He listened very carefully to attempt to hear what the man was saying, but he couldn’t. All he knew was whatever the man was saying was greatly upsetting his mom and he took this opportunity to open the door and say,

“I’m home!”

“Hey, Etho! Welcome home! How was school?”

“Good, good. I’m glad spring break is next week though.”

“Yeah. I bet you do. You’ve needed a break. You’ve been working so hard.”

“Umm, mom?”

“Hmm?”

“Who’s your friend?”

“Oh. Right. How rude of me. Etho, this is your father.”

Etho was shocked. His father had left even before he had been born and so he had never met him. There were no pictures, his mother had never even mentioned him, and so as a kid Etho had given up trying to figure out anything about him. He didn’t feel any emotion except anger as he stood there looking at his father. He was angry at how he had just left his mother pregnant and alone. He was angry that he had never made any attempt to contact them until now, and he was angry that he thought he could just waltz right in and start being a parent. 

“Oh, okay. Well, I’m going to my room now. See you never.”

“Etho,” said his mother, warning in her voice.

Etho turned back around. “Well, what do you want me to say? I have absolutely nothing to say to him! I’m sorry, mom, but I can’t do this right now or ever.” Etho left the house, slamming the door. Forget going to his room, he was leaving the house. He could not be expected to talk to that man that was nothing more to him but a complete stranger. 

He went to Nebris’s house and Nebris opened up the door right away.

Nebris:

“Etho, you’re a bit early for date night,” he said jokingly, but then he took a good look at the look of he wasn’t quite sure what on Etho’s face and said,

“Is everything okay?”

“No. May I come in?”

“Of course! What’s wrong?”

Nebris listened as Etho explained what had just happened at his house. 

“Woah and he was just there when you came home from school?”

“Yeah and my mom wanted me to talk to him or something, I’m not sure exactly what, but I don’t think I can do that.”

“Well, why not? Can’t you just hear what he has to say? Maybe he’s different.”

“Different from what? I never knew him. That’s the point. Surely, you’re not siding with my mom here! Nebris, I thought I could come here and have you stand behind my decision.”

“Etho, I was merely suggesting that you talk to him for a little bit. I’m not siding with your mom and I’m not against your decision, but haven’t you ever wanted to talk to your father?”

“Of course I wanted to! When I was little, I always wondered where he was and if he was thinking about me, but as I grew older, I realized just how much of a crummy individual he was. He left my mother when she was pregnant with me. No note, no explanation, no anything. She loved him and he just dumped her because she was of no use to him anymore. Ever since hearing that, I vowed I would never be like him. I’m angry, Nebris. Angry at the years my mother raised me alone and I just can’t talk to him, okay?”

Nebris hadn’t seen Etho this upset ever. The closest thing to this upset he had ever seen him was when he had been upset about Beef rejecting him, but that was nothing compared to this. 

“What about your mom?”

“What about my mom?”

“Well, you just left her there with your father.”

“What are you saying?”

“Well, surely she’s upset too, but she’s putting up with him for you. For whatever reason, he’s here and wanted to see you, and you just blew him off. You have to think about what your mom is sacrificing for you.”

“My mom sacrificed everything for me! Are you suggesting that I’m not grateful to her? Because if so, that’s ridiculous! I realize my mom gave up her dream job to take care of me. I realize her idea of a great life was probably not the one she ended up with, but I can’t believe you would say these things to me, Nebris. Who are you to just stand there and act like you know what’s what with my family? I just, I can’t deal with this right now.”

Etho left the house. Nebris just stood there, shocked. He hadn’t meant to make Etho so upset. He had only been trying to show Etho that maybe it was a good idea to hear what his father had to say, but obviously that idea blew up in his face. He knew he shouldn’t have said that thing about his mother. Etho was right about that. He didn’t know the circumstances and he shouldn’t be so quick to assume. 

He was a little upset though. Etho had never yelled at him like that. In fact, he didn’t think he had ever seen Etho yell before ever. He was too afraid to go after him, he didn’t want to make things worse. Nebris cried, afraid he had lost the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Pause:

After seeing Beef at the coffee shop, and seeing that Beef was still upset with him, Pause tried to avoid the coffee shop from that point on. He wanted to give Beef space, but he also wanted to take Nebris’s advice and try to win him back. 

Even though most of the gang was mad at him, Millbee was still talking to him. Pause was grateful of that fact. He was still a person who needed a friend and Millbee had always been there for him no matter what happened.

“Look, man, I realize you pulled a dumbass move, but I’m still your bro and I’ve still got your back, okay?” was what Millbee had said to him shortly after everyone found out about him cheating on Beef. 

During spring break, Millbee was over at his place practically every day, hanging out. Towards the end of the break, they were hanging out, drinking a couple of beers, when Pause said,

“I saw him the other day.”

“Who?”

“Beef.”

“Oh, how’d he look?”

“He looked fine. He was still super mad at me though, so I got out of there as soon as I could.”

“That’s too bad, man. You guys were like the perfect couple.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, evidently, I don’t want myself to be happy because I keep screwing things up for myself.”

“Look, Pause, stop being so hard on yourself. We all make mistakes.”

“Yeah, I know, but I just acted like such a dummy.”

“You know what I think?”

“What?”

“Beef is gonna get tired of being mad at you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever been mad at someone?”

“Millbee…that’s kind of how this whole thing started. I was mad at him.”

“Okay, well, when you’re mad at someone or try to hold a grudge against them for too long, it starts to become exhausting. Trust me, it happens all the time. I bet you two will be back together in no time.”

“It’s not like this is a silly reason we’re broken up, Millbee. I cheated. He’s not just gonna come running back to me ready to get back together with me.”

“Well, not with that attitude, he won’t.”

They both laughed and spent the rest of the night playing video games and drinking. 

Etho:

Etho had had no choice, but to return to his house that night he had stormed out of Nebris’s place. He walked into his house, ran up the stairs to his room, and slammed the door, not even greeting his mother. 

He laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling, when there was a knock on his door. He didn’t answer.

“Etho, it’s mom,” said his mother, opening the door slightly. “Can I talk to you?”

“Yeah. Come in.”

“I warned him this would happen,” she started.

“What?”

“Before you came in this afternoon, I told him you wouldn’t want to talk to him, but he insisted that he get to try. He’s gone now, but he’s gonna want to try again, Etho.”

“Mom, I can’t. I’m sorry. I just really can’t. I’m too angry and if I yelled at Nebris, someone I love, imagine how it’s going to go down talking to someone I absolutely hate.”

“What? You yelled at Nebris?”

“Mom, you know that I love you and appreciate everything you’ve done for me, right? I know I don’t tell you that enough and I’m sorry about that.” 

“Etho, what’s this about?”

“I went over to Nebris’s and we had a bit of a fight because he said I should talk to dad and then he said that I should think of what you are sacrificing for me, talking to dad. It made me angry at the time, but I realize he’s right. I was selfish storming out of here earlier and I’m very sorry about that.”

“Oh, honey, it’s okay. I know you’re upset and you have every right to be. As for me knowing you love me, of course I do! I’m glad I had you. You’re my baby boy and I would do anything for you. I wouldn’t have my life any other way.”

Etho had tears spilling from his eyes. 

“You don’t have to talk to your father if you don’t want to. That’s a bit much of him to just expect you’d be willing to.”

“No, mom. Just give me some time to cool down and I’ll do it. I’m not going to promise that we will automatically become best friends, but I will promise to be civil.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, go fix things with Nebris. I have never seen you as happy as you are when you’re with him and I would hate to see you lose him over your no-good father.”

Etho and his mother smiled and Etho headed to Nebris’s for the second time that day. 

Nebris:

It had been such a long day for Nebris. First of all, the last school day before a break always seems to last forever and then the whole fight with Etho in the afternoon happened and ever since Nebris had been debating whether or not he should go talk to Etho. He had gone out to sit in his car twice, almost driving there, but then he talked himself out of it. 

He had been about to go to sleep when there was a knock on the door. His parents were out on a date, so he had no idea who could be there. 

He was surprised when he opened the door and Etho was standing there with flowers.

“I’m sorry it’s kind of late, but may I come in?”

Nebris nodded and Etho came in.

“Look, I’m really sorry for yelling at you earlier. You were right, I shouldn’t have left my mom over there with my dad and I’ve decided I’m gonna talk to him. I just feel awful.”

“You don’t have to feel awful. I’m sorry too. You were upset and I feel like I kind of antagonized you. So, you’re going to talk to your dad?”

“Yeah. Sometime this week.”

“Okay, well if you need or want to talk to me about how it goes, my door’s always open.”

Etho smiled. “Thanks.”

“My parents are out on a date if you want to watch a movie or something.”

“I’d like that,” said Etho.

Etho:

It had taken a few days, but Etho felt like he was finally ready to talk to his father for the first time ever. He was a little nervous. Would his father like him? What should he wear? Is it bad that he was feeling a little excited to finally get to talk to him? 

His father came to the house and after saying goodbye to his mother, Etho left with him. 

“You’re very tall,” said his father amazedly.

“Well, now I know where I got it from,” Etho said shyly. 

His father snickered. “You’re way taller than me.”

“Yeah, but mom’s so short, so where’d the tallness come from then?”

“Your grandfather is a pretty tall man.”

Etho felt weird hearing this. Because he had never known his father, he had also never known his second set of grandparents. 

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Right,” said his father and then the two stood there awkwardly for a little while. “So, what do you want to do? We can do whatever you want.”

“Can’t we just talk?”

“Of course. Do you want to get some lunch?”

“Sure.”

“Do you want to drive?”

“Umm, yeah. That’s fine.”

Etho headed to the MindCrack. The MindCrack had really good food and since his father wasn’t from the area, Etho thought he’d introduce him to one of his favorite places.

“You’re an excellent driver,” his father said.

“Thanks.”

“So,” his father said nervously. “How’s school?”

“School’s going well, I suppose.” Etho was a little uncomfortable talking to his father, seeing as how he didn’t know him at all, but he took a deep breath. He was doing this for his mother’s sake and he had promised to be civil.

“I’m a senior this year and then in the fall, I’m going to the community college.”

“Oh wow. Are you excited for that?”

“Umm, I guess. I don’t really know what I want to do yet.”

“Well, that’s okay. You’ve still got time.”

“Yeah... can you tell me about you? What have you been doing all this time? Where have you been? Why’d you never visit?” 

“Son,” Etho cringed at his casual usage of the word. “I’m so, so sorry I never even called. I was just nervous. I mean, it was a difficult situation.”

“Difficult for whom?” Technically, this question wasn’t really breaking his promise. After all, he said it very calmly, he said to himself, attempting to justify his response. 

“I feel awful for leaving your mom.”

“Then why did you? I just want answers.”

“I was scared. I didn’t know how to deal with the news that she was pregnant. I wasn’t ready to be a parent. I’m still not really,” he admitted.

“Well, she’s done all the hard work now, so you thought you could worm your way into my life at this time, huh? Isn’t that the case?” Etho was having such a hard time not raising his voice. 

“What? No! I-,”

Etho started crying. “She was always there for me! Where were you? All my life, I’ve grown up thinking there was something wrong with me because my own father didn’t want me. I mean, you didn’t bother calling or writing and after a while, I just gave up. So, excuse me for not being prepared for you being here. I’m sorry. I’m just upset and to be frank with you, I don’t really want or need you in my life.” Oops, he had broken his promise. He felt bad about that, but it was true. 

“Where should I drop you off?” asked Etho.

“I’m so sorry, Mom,” said Etho to his mother as soon as he got home.

“Why? What’s wrong? Etho, honey, why are you crying?”

“I broke my promise to you and I feel awful about it.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t be civil to him and before I knew it, I was telling him I didn’t want him in my life. It’s just how I feel. We’ve done fine by ourselves for the past 18 years, you know?”

“Honey, don’t feel bad about breaking your promise to me. It’s okay. It was too soon. I shouldn’t have had you see him.”

Etho and his mother sat watching a movie together and it was a great night. 

Nebris:

Nebris, like every other senior, was looking into college and which college would be the best fit for him. He was really interested in psychology as he had learned back when he was in Pennsylvania and while he had been there, he had looked into the different psychology programs at the various universities in Pennsylvania. 

Applying for scholarships had been a hassle, but he had gotten them all turned in and he had been offered pretty decent ones both back in Pennsylvania and at the community college in town, which also had an outstanding psychology program.

His one hesistance about going back to Pennsylvania was being apart from Etho. He was afraid of a long-distance relationship and he was afraid that if he left, Etho would find someone a lot better than him and then he would be alone. Although he was not nearly as shy as he used to be, that didn’t mean he was automatically great at talking to people. He knew he had to make a decision based on his future career, but he felt his relationship and his nerves should also be taken into consideration. 

He didn’t tell Etho when he went out of town for tours in Pennsylvania. College was a topic he never really wanted to bring up and until he made up his mind, he didn’t want to worry Etho or have him “help him make a decision”. He knew, if Etho knew, that he would try to convince him to go back to Pennsylvania, but Nebris wasn’t so sure about that anymore. When planning his future years ago, he never would’ve imagined having someone like Etho in his life. Etho was too important to him to lose. 

BdoubleO:

The wonderfulness that had been spring break was over and BdoubleO groaned as his alarm went off, waking him from a really good night’s sleep. 

There was only about two months of school left and then the seniors would be graduating. Even though it was still March, all the juniors and seniors could talk about was Prom. Who was going to ask whom? 

Hearing all the Prom talk gave BdoubleO an idea. He wanted to ask Guude to Prom, but he wanted it to be really special. 

Pause:

Mid-March meant chaos for the student council members, particularly their ever-loyal and not-at-all querulous president. 

“I can’t wait until this damn dance is over with. I hate the Prom. I hate student council. I hate school, but most of all, I hate myself,” said Pause, after yet another tiring student council meeting.

“Well, that’s a bit harsh, don’t you think, mate?” asked Millbee, who had agreed to meet him after the meeting to study. 

Pause sighed. “No, it sounds pretty accurate to me.”

Millbee gave him a look. “Have you indecisive people come up with a theme yet?”

“Yeah. We’re doing ‘A Night in Paris’.”

“Aww, that’s cute.”

“Yeah, you would think so.”

“Pause, cheer up. I’ll help you out, man! And for all you know, you and Beef could be back together by then.”

“This has nothing to do with Beef,” said Pause.

“Pause, you and I both know that that is complete bullshit and your mopiness has everything to do with Beef.”

“Okay, so you got me, I’m upset cuz I can’t go with Beef.”

“Figured. Now, come on, let’s go. I’m hungry and we’ve got a test tomorrow.”

Beef:

It had been a few weeks since Beef’s run-in with Pause while at work and work nor seeing Pause had not gotten any easier, but Beef was managing. 

Beef was about to leave work one night mid-April when his manager stopped him.

“Oh, Beef,” he said.

“Yes?”

“We have a lot of people not able to work next Saturday, so I was wondering, are you able to?”

The reason so many people weren’t able to work was because next Saturday was Prom. Beef knew he wasn’t going, so he said,

“Sure. I can work.”

“Great! See you then!”

“I’m thrilled,” said Beef sarcastically and then he went home. 

BdoubleO:

BdoubleO was really nervous, even though he knew he shouldn’t be. He and Guude were getting married, after all, so he should have no problem asking him to the Prom. 

He had decided on taking him out to dinner and then to the park. 

BdoubleO picked him up at around 7:00 the night in question. He took him to the fanciest restaurant he could and Guude questioned him.

“BOO, what’s the occasion? I haven’t forgotten an anniversary, have I?”

“No, no, you cutie. I just wanted to treat you.”

“You sure treat me well, BOO,” said Guude lovingly. 

After he paid, Bdubs drove Guude to the park.

“BOO, where are we going? Our apartment was back that way.”

“You’ll see,” Bdubs said mischievously.

When they got to the park, Bdubs sat Guude down on a park bench. He grabbed ahold of his hands and he started to sing a song he had written for this very moment and for Guude.

Guude looked surprised and when Bdubs was done singing, he asked,

“Will you go to the Prom with me?”

“Oh, BOO! Of course I will!” Guude said as he gave BdoubleO a big hug.

Nebris:

Nebris took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Etho opened it right away excitedly.

“Nebris!”

“Hello!”

“What are you doing here? I thought we had plans tomorrow.”

“We do, but I wanted to talk to you and it couldn’t wait.”

“Oh? Now I’m intrigued.”

“Come with me.”

His nervousness had vanished as soon as he had started talking to Etho. He confidently strode to his car, opened the door for him, and the hopped into the driver’s seat. He couldn’t remember a time he had been happier in his life than when he was with Etho.

They arrived at the park and Nebris grabbed a basket out of the trunk. He spread out a blanket and he and Etho sat down. They started to eat and then Etho said,

“You’re killing me here, Nebs. What is it that you want to talk to me about?”

“I want-,” Nebris was starting to get nervous again. It wasn’t like Etho would say no, but he always felt weird requesting things from Etho. Even though he had greatly improved, there was always a little voice in the back of Nebris’s head telling him he wasn’t good enough for Etho, wondering why he even wanted to be with him. 

“What is it, Nebris?” Etho asked, concerned.

“Will you go to Prom with me?” Nebris asked quietly.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I was wondering if you would want to go to Prom with me, but it’s okay if you don’t.”

“Of course I want to go to Prom with you, Nebris! You’re my boyfriend!”

Nebris heaved a sigh of relief. He didn’t know why that had been so hard to say.

“Aww, Nebris, were you nervous?”

“Yes.”

“Silly, Nebs,” Etho said giving Nebris a hug. 

The two laid down beside each other, gazing up at the sky. It wasn’t that dark out yet, but the sun was beginning to set.

“I’m sorry my idea for asking you wasn’t that creative, but I know I really enjoyed the times we’ve gone on picnics before.”

“It was lovely, Nebris. Thank you for making my night perfect!”

“Did I?”

“Yeah. I was having a rough day studying for a test on Monday and this really put me at ease. I really needed a break.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help relieve stress for you after the many times you’ve done it for me.” 

Beef:

While everyone else was figuring out how to ask their significant other to Prom, Beef was figuring out ways to get out of going to college. He wanted to have a plan. That way, when he talked to his mother about it, he would know exactly what he wanted. He knew what he wanted certainly didn’t involve working in this stupid coffee shop the rest of his life.

The money he got from working at the coffee shop was nice, though. He never touched it. He set every penny aside for his “college fund” which he started to think of as his “starting a new life for himself” fund. 

Honestly, he really wanted to take a year off from doing anything and just travel. He really didn’t get to travel that much after his dad died and there were so many places he still wanted to see. He was afraid if he didn’t go as a young adult that he would settle down with a spouse and kids and never get a chance to. 

After he had been at his job a while and had quite a bit of money saved up, he decided it was time to speak to his mother about his true feelings. 

“Beef, honey, why didn’t you just tell me you didn’t want to go to college? I would’ve understood. I always thought that’s what you wanted and that’s why I pushed you so hard to do well. But if you don’t want to go, then by all means, don’t. I don’t want to force you to do something you don’t want to do. I just want what’s best for you, honey.” 

Beef was relieved. He started to look into how much it would cost to go to all the places he wanted to and that’s how he spent the rest of his time when he wasn’t doing homework or working. 

Nebris:

Nebris was having a hard time making a decision about where he wanted to go for college. Since receiving scholarship offers, he had narrowed his decision down to two different colleges, both of which he loved, but he didn’t know how he could make such a hard decision. 

Nebris had finally talked to Etho about this topic when he had narrowed it down. When he talked to Etho about this decision, Etho had been very supportive. He had told him not to go to the community college for his sake. That if he really wanted to go back to Pennsylvania, Etho would support him 100%. Still, Nebris struggled with his decision. 

When he wasn’t worrying about Prom, he was worrying about college. Of course, he had to make a decision by May 1, but that only made it worse because of the pressure he put on himself to make a decision. 

Finally, one day shortly before Prom, he had made up his mind, but he decided to not tell anyone until it was official. 

Etho:

Nebris and Etho had decided to have their dinner before Prom alone. The two had only been dating around four months, but to them it seemed much longer.

Etho couldn’t help but admire how wonderful his boyfriend looked in his suit. He was very excited for the night. He expected it would be a night he would never forget. 

He pulled up to the restaurant and then ran around to the other side of the car to open the door for Nebris. 

“Thanks, Etho!”

“Don’t mention it!”

Once they were seated, Etho asked, 

“So, are you excited?”

“Yes! I’ve been looking forward to it ever since you said you’d go with me,” Nebris replied.

“Good. I want this night to be perfect.”

“It’s already perfect just being here with you.”

Etho smiled. He couldn’t believe how much Nebris had changed since that first day Etho bumped into him. It was a little hard to believe that that boy was the same boy sitting in front of him.

“Nebris, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Etho noticed the grin on Nebris’s face transform into a look of nervousness.

“Don’t be nervous. It’s not a bad thing!”

Nebris relaxed a little bit, “What is it?”

“I love you, Nebris. More than I can possibly put into words.”

It was hard for him to interpret the meaning behind the look on Nebris’s face. The two sat there silently for a while before Nebris spoke up,

“I, I love you too, Etho. I’m sorry it took me so long to reply, I guess, I guess I just wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

“Really? Why not?”

“I, I am still of the opinion that you are far too good for me and that you could do much better.” Nebris muttered quietly. 

“Nebris, all I want is you. There could be crowds of people around and all I would see is you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

“Etho, it means so much to hear you say that.”

“Anything for you.”

The rest of the dinner conversation was a lot lighter and more playful. Once Etho paid, he asked,

“You ready to go?”

“Sure.”

“Do you want to drive?”

“I don’t mind driving.”

Nebris got in the driver’s seat and they headed for the dance which was held at one of the fanciest hotels in the city. 

Etho was talking about an idea he got for Minecraft and Nebris was watching him talk about it when Etho yelled,

“Nebris, look out!”

A car pulled out in front of them and Nebris tried to swerve to avoid it, but it was too late. The car collided with theirs, flipping it into the air. The car landed with a thud and Etho lost consciousness. 

Nebris:

The car was upside down and Nebris was covered in cuts. He looked over and saw that Etho’s eyes were closed.

“Oh gosh, oh gosh! Etho! ETHO!” Nebris screamed. He had no idea what to do. He heard sirens and pretty soon a police car pulled up along with a paramedic.

“Are you hurt, son?” asked the officer.

“No, but my, my friend is. He’s bleeding badly. Please help him!” Nebris cried frantically. 

“Try to calm down, son. You need to come with me and answer some questions. Can you do that?”

“Yes, but what about Etho?”

“They’ll take care of him. Don’t worry.” 

Nebris could not stop shaking and he could feel the tears coming before he could stop them.

“It’s all my fault,” said Nebris. “I wasn’t watching the road.”

“It’s not entirely your fault. I have testimony from a witness who says the other car pulled out in front of you. We have reason to believe the other driver was drunk.”

That didn’t make Nebris feel better. He only felt worse. 

“We’re taking your friend to the hospital. He’s in criticial condition.”

“Can, can I go with him?”

“Of course. The paramedic wants to make sure you’re okay too.”

“Okay. Can I make a phone call, please?”

“Of course,” said the officer looking saddened. “Here’s my cellphone.”

“Thank you.”

Guude:

Guude and BdoubleO were just about to go into the dance when BdoubleO got a phone call.

“It’s Nebris.”

“Oh, did we beat them here?”

“I don’t know, probably. If Etho’s driving, they probably got lost.”

“Hello?” BdoubleO said enthusiastically. As the phone call continued, BdoubleO lost all trace of happiness in his voice and on his face. Guude was worried. He knew something terrible had happened, he just didn’t know what. 

“We’ll be right there.” BdoubleO said, hanging up the phone. He had tears in his eyes and Guude asked,

“BOO, what’s the matter?”

“Etho’s, Etho’s in the hospital.”

“What?!”

“They got in an accident. He’s in critical condition.” 

“Oh my gosh! Is Nebris alright?”

“He says he’s fine, but he doesn’t sound too convincing.”

“Did he go into detail about what happened?”

“I could barely understand him, the poor thing was bawling, but he said something about a drunk driver.”

“The asshole! I will track him down, and-,”

“Guude?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not your job. Our job is to comfort Nebs and to make sure Etho’s alright.”

“You’re right. Let’s go.”

Fifteen minutes later, the two arrived at the hospital. 

“Is Etho Slab here?” BdoubleO asked.

“They are not letting anyone see him at this time,” said the nurse.

“Well, can you tell us where we can find the boy who came in with him?”

“Name?”

“Nebris Ray.”

“He’s in Room 456.”

“Okay, thank you!”

When they got to Room 456, they found Nebris crying, practically in hysterics.

BdoubleO sat next to him and asked,

“Nebris?”

He got no response.

“Nebs?”

Nebris went silent and looked up. 

“Bdubs?”

“Yes, I’m here for you. Come here and cry if you want to.”

Nebris crawled into his arms and immediately started crying again. BdoubleO rubbed his back and just listened as Nebris cried and occasionally yelled out things.

Guude just watched all this, not really knowing what to do. 

“It’s my fault, Bdubs. I shouldn’t love people ever. He’ll end up dead like Trisha did.”

Guude gave Bdubs a worried look. He had no idea what Nebris was talking about, but it sounded serious.

“Shh, I’m sure he’ll be fine,” said BdoubleO. 

“How do you know, Bdubs? How do you know? What if he isn’t fine?”

“Nebris, I know you’re upset, but you need to calm down,” said Guude.

BdoubleO shot him a threatening look as Nebris yelled, 

“Calm down? CALM DOWN? You want me to calm down?! Did you almost kill your boyfriend by not looking at the road? No! I didn’t think so! So don’t tell me to calm down!”

Nebris was choking out sobs and BdoubleO said,

“I know you feel guilty, Nebs, but it’s not your fault. Things happen.”

“Yeah things happen, but they shouldn’t. Not to people like Etho. Etho is a good person. I’m the one who should be so close to death, not him!”

“Nebris, don’t say such a thing!”

“It’s true!”

“It is not! Etho wouldn’t want you saying such terrible things.”

That only made Nebris sob harder. 

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I’m just so scared.”

“We know, Nebs. We are too.”

“Bdubs, will you do something for me?”

“Anything.”

“Call Beef. He needs to know about this.”

“Okay, Nebs. I will,” Bdubs said as Nebris closed his eyes, falling asleep from all the commotion.

BdoubleO laid him down and pulled the covers around him. Then he said,

“Guude, keep a close eye on him. After some of the things he said tonight, I think he might be suicidal so we need to make sure he’s okay. I’m gonna call Beef.” 

Beef:

Beef was spending the night of Prom at his job and his shift was passing soooo slowly. He should’ve known no one would show up, who gets coffee the night of Prom?! He was going over the counter with a wet rag for what seemed like the fiftieth time when his phone started ringing. Looking around to make sure his boss wasn’t anywhere around, he answered it. It was BdoubleO. 

“Hello? Aren’t you at the dance?”

“No. We’re at the hospital.”

Beef froze upon hearing this. 

“What? Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nebris asked me to call you. He wanted me to tell you that Etho has been pretty badly hurt in a car accident.”

“What?! Oh my gosh! That’s awful!”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be right there!”

“Okay.”

Beef went to find his boss. He had to get over there as soon as possible. He explained the situation and his boss let him go early. He was headed toward the hospital, when he realized Pause and Millbee might want to know something like this. He went to the location Prom was and talked to the chaperone.

“Could I talk to Pause, please? It’s urgent.”

“Okay, yeah, sure. I’ll find him for you.”

Pause:

Pause was very surprised when one of the chaperones came up to him saying there was someone there to see him and that it was urgent. He headed towards the door and saw Beef in his work clothes.

Does he want to make up? Why would he say that it’s urgent? Stop being ridiculous and just go talk to him, Pause. 

“Beef?”

“Look, I’m still mad at you, but I thought you should know. Bdubs just called me and told me Etho’s in the hospital. He and Nebs were in a car accident.” 

“What? Oh my gosh!”

“So if you want to come, I’m headed there now. Also, let Millbee know in case he wonders where you went.”

When Pause got back he said, “Millbee and Annette said they’ll meet up with us later, if they can.”

“Okay. Come on, we’ve got to hurry.”

Beef drove as fast as was possible. The car ride was extremely awkward. They finally arrived at the hospital. 

Beef:

BdoubleO was waiting for them.

“Where is he?” asked Beef. 

“They won’t let us see him, but follow me. We’re going to Nebris’s room.” 

“Is he okay?”

“Define okay. Physically, he’s fine. He has some cuts and bruises, but nothing worse. Emotionally, he’s a nervous wreck. He’s asleep right now, but you should’ve seen him earlier. Before he fell asleep, he asked me to call you.”

“Oh my gosh. I can’t believe this,” said Beef.

“This is terrible,” said Pause. 

When they got to the room, Guude was sitting next to Nebris’s bed. 

“He’s still asleep,” said Guude.

“Good. We need him to stay that way for a while,” said BdoubleO.

“It’s that bad, huh?” asked Beef.

“Yeah.”

“Do you need me to do anything?”

“No. There’s not much we can do. I mean, I’m sure this hospital has notified both of their parents. Now all we have to do is wait. 

Hours passed. The four guys were joined by both Etho’s mom and Nebris’s parents and Nebris was still asleep. 

The doctor came in and updated them on Etho’s condition. He was being moved to a private room and he could have visitors. He had fractured a rib, broken an arm, and a leg, plus he was still unconscious. 

The guys let Etho’s mom see him first. His mom was crying when they came back a little while later. BdoubleO and the other three saw him next. Beef gasped at the sight of his best friend. He looked so fragile lying unconscious on the bed like that. Beef thought they should wake Nebris, but BdoubleO thought they should leave him alone, that he would wake up on his own. 

The next afternoon, Etho’s mom insisted that the guys leave to get some rest. They all reluctantly agreed, promising to return as quickly as they could. 

Nebris:

Nebris woke up groggily, looking around the room. It took only the sight of his and Etho’s mothers to remember where he was and why he was there.

“Did you sleep well, Nebris?” his mother asked. 

“Is Etho awake yet?” Nebris asked, ignoring her question.

“No, he’s not. You can see him though, if you’d like.” His mother had barely finished her statement when Nebris said,

“Please take me to him.”

The sight of Etho looking so helpless lying on the bed made Nebris sick to his stomach. He ran to the bathroom and hurled. 

“Nebs?” his mother asked. “Are you alright?”

“No,” he replied.

“Nebris, please come out and talk to me. I’m worried about you.”

“No,” said Nebris, sitting on the floor of the bathroom, curled up in a ball, feeling like he was going to start crying again at any moment.

“Do you need any help?” he heard Etho’s mom ask his own.

“No. I’m sure he’ll come out eventually. He’s not taking this very well.”

“Well, I don’t really blame him. I’ve seen the way he looks at Etho. He seems to really love him.”

“I do,” said Nebris, emerging from the bathroom. “And that is why the guilt is eating me alive.”

“Honey, we all know it was an accident. A horrible, horrible accident, but still an accident nevertheless.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” said Nebris, leaving the room to go back to his. 

Nebris stayed in bed the next two days. The only times he got up were when he knew no one was around and he used that time to sit by Etho. He grabbed his hand and sometimes he would talk to him, not knowing if Etho could hear him. 

One night, four days after the accident, he was talking to Etho when Etho opened his eyes.

“Well I guess now we’re even,” he said.

“What?”

“Now we’ve both ruined dances.”

“Not funny, Etho.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

“I’m so happy you’re okay!”

“I heard you speaking to me just now so I got up.”

Tears poured down Nebris’s face. 

“I feel so awful for causing this.”

“You didn’t, Nebris. It was an accident.”

“Everyone keeps saying that, but it is my fault. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

“Everything’s okay now though, Nebs. Look, I’m fine!”

“But what if you hadn’t been? What if you had died? I couldn’t have lived with myself.”

“Nebris, please, look at me. I’m fine!”

“Etho, I can’t see you anymore.”

“What?”

“I am bad luck. Everyone who befriends me gets hurt or worse. I can’t have anything else happen to you.”

“Nebris, please don’t do this! Come here.”

Nebris approached the side of Etho’s bed.

“Closer.”

Nebris did as Etho asked and Etho kissed him. It wasn’t a long kiss and Nebris didn’t kiss back too hard for fear of hurting him. 

After Nebris pulled away, Etho said,

“I love you. None of this changes that. And even if we do break up, that probably won’t change. But if you must break up with me then I understand.”

“I’m so relieved you’re okay,” said Nebris, crying.

“Nebs, please don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it. I’m just so torn.

“With what?”

“I want to stay with you, but you are far too good for me.”

“Nebris, don’t speak like that! I told you before, there’s not a one I’d rather be with.”

“You shouldn’t be the one trying to cheer me up! I should be comforting you!”

“It doesn’t matter. What can I do to convince you that everything will be alright?”

“You can’t. I’m still skeptical.”

“But will you stay with me? At least for right now?”

“Yes.”

Etho patted the bed beside him and Nebris got on, even though he was afraid to hurt Etho. 

The two fell asleep together and awoke to BdoubleO’s voice. 

“What in the hell are you doing, Nebris?”

“Etho told me it was okay.”

At this moment, Etho opened his eyes and said,

“Bdubs, he’s right. I told him to get on with me.”

“Etho! You’re awake!”

“Yes, I am. Am I not allowed to cuddle with my boyfriend?”

“Oh yes, uh, sorry. I’ll just leave you two alone.”

“No, it’s okay. Are the other guys here?”

“Yeah, I’ll go get them.”

Etho laughed at the incredulous look on BdoubleO’s face. Etho leaned in and kissed Nebris.

“Have I convinced you now, Nebris?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I freaked out on you.”

“That’s quite alright.” 

Etho:

BdoubleO came in with Guude, Pause, Beef, his mom, and both of Nebris’s parents.

“Oh, Etho!” said Mrs. Slab, leaning down to kiss Etho on the forehead. “Thank goodness you’re okay! We were all so worried!”

“I’m fine, really.”

Mr. Ray said, “The doctor told me that they found the drunk driver who pulled out in front of you, Nebs.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. I have a feeling he won’t be on the road again for quite some time.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Etho squeezing Nebris’s hand. 

“You okay?” he mouthed to Nebris.

Nebris nodded.

“So, when do I get to get out of here?” Etho asked, trying to get up.

“Oh no, you don’t,” said Nebris, gently pushing Etho back down on the bed. 

“Honey, now that you’re awake, they’re probably gonna have to make sure your head, arm, leg, and rib are okay. It might be a while.”

“Darn,” said Etho. 

The doctor came in just then and shooed everyone out of the room, except for Nebris, who Etho insisted get to stay in the room with him. The doctor was not pleased, having heard that Nebris had been up on the bed with him.

The doctor did a whole bunch of tests. Etho saw no reason to lie and admitted to his head hurting and his body aching. 

Even though he wanted to get out of the hospital, he wanted to make sure everything was okay to avoid having to come in ever again. 

“Your arm and leg are both fine, as long as you don’t put pressure on them. You have a fractured rib which typically heal by themselves in a month or two, so you might be experiencing pain or finding it hard to breathe at times. We have to monitor you to make sure everything is healing properly.”

“So, I’m gonna be here for a month or longer? What about graduation? And Guude and BdoubleO’s wedding?!”

“Depending on the progress of your recovery, you very well may be able to do those things, but you will be here for quite some time, yes. Anyway, you’ll need lots of rest and you’ll need to stay hydrated. Don’t over-exert yourself, so try to avoid physical contact,” said the doctor while looking at Nebris. Nebris blushed as the doctor continued, “I’m gonna give you some pain medication for your head and rib and I’ll check in on you in a few hours.”

The doctor left and Etho and Nebris shared a look.

“Make sure you don’t touch me, Nebris, or you could break my fragile body,” said Etho, in an imitation of the doctor’s voice.

“That’s creeping me out.”

“Sorry, that guy’s just irritating me. He’s so uptight and all of this is so annoying. I just want to be at home.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’ll get through it. Go get some rest, Nebris, I’ll be fine here. Besides, you have school,” 

“I just want to stay with you.”

“No, Nebs, you need to go. You want to graduate right?”

“Yes. Okay fine, but I’m not happy about it.”

The doctor came back and put what Etho assumed was the pain medication in his IV and pretty soon Etho began to feel drowsy as a result of the pain medication.

“Good night, Etho. I love you.”

“Love you too,” Etho murmured and then he was asleep. 

Nebris:

School for the next couple of weeks was rough for all the seniors, particularly Nebris. The only thing that got him through each day was knowing he could go see Etho in the hospital, and later at his home, every day. 

One day in particular, instead of paying attention, Nebris thought about the day Etho got to go home.

“Nebris!” Etho said excitedly. “I have something to tell you!”

“What is it? Are you okay?”

Ever since the accident, Nebris had been worriedly asking Etho if he was okay at every little thing. He was even hesistant to kiss Etho for fear of putting Etho in further pain. 

“Yes, yes, of course! I get to go home!”

“What?! You do? That’s great!”

“Yeah. Mr. Crabbypants finally signed off on everything. He still said I can’t over-exert myself though.”

“So, you still won’t be able to go to school?”

“No, but my mom worked things out with the principal. She was afraid I wouldn’t be able to graduate.”

“Oh gosh!”

“I can, though. As long as I’m willing to put in the extra effort needed in order to catch up, which I am.”

“I’ll help you anyway I can. I’ll bring your assignments over and teach you anything you need help with, not that you will, Mr. Smartypants.”

“Thank you, Nebs. That’s very sweet of you.”

That day, after school, Nebris went straight to Etho’s house. There was only about a week left until finals, graduation, and then freedom and Nebris wanted to make sure Etho was getting all of his assignments done. If he did and if he kept improving like he had been, the doctor said he could attend graduation and get his diploma with the rest of the guys. 

“It’s weird being your tutor instead of the other way around,” Nebris said one day while explaining an assignment to Etho.

“Well, you are a very good tutor,” said Etho, smiling.

“Well, I try,” said Nebris humbly.

BdoubleO:

Graduation was a week away and then the wedding was the next week. It was all moving so fast, but BdoubleO was ready to start his new life with Guude. 

There was one thing BdoubleO felt he needed to do, though. Beef still wasn’t talking to Pause and, although he was still disappointed in what Pause had done to hurt Beef, he realized he needed to make things right with him. After all, it was not his battle and he felt bad about how he had treated Pause. 

He went to Pause’s apartment and knocked on the door.

Pause opened the door, seemingly surprised to see him.

“Hey… Bdubs. What are you doing here?”

“May I come in?”

“Of course! Come on in!”

BdoubleO sat down on the couch and said,

“I am extremely sorry for yelling at you and giving you the cold shoulder. I realize that that was very immature of me and I am ashamed for having done it.” 

“It’s okay. I acted like a jerk to Beef and I deserved it. I’ve ruined everything.”

BdoubleO hugged Pause. “Everything will be okay, Pause. I can just feel it.” 

“Thanks, Bdubs.”

“Listen, this isn’t over. You can’t just give up. I want to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“When Guude and I were split up, I never wanted to give up hope that he would fight for me. All I had ever wanted was that and as soon as I heard he had punched Generik, that was all it took. I wasn’t mad anymore. I know your circumstance is a little different, but what I’m telling you is this: don’t give up. Keep fighting for the one you love.”

Pause had tears in his eyes at this point and he said,

“That means a lot to me, Bdubs. I want to do anything, everything, to get Beef back, but he won’t even talk to me. The only time he did was when he called about Etho being in the hospital, but he was upset and vulnerable about his best friend and so I didn’t want to upset him further.”

“Do you really love him?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Do you promise to never hurt him again?”

“Of course I do!”

“Well then you have to give it time. It’s not all going to fix itself right away.”

“Right. Thanks again, Bdubs!”

“You’re welcome! Now, before I leave, I want to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“As you know, Guude and I are having a wedding soon and I was still mad at you when I asked everyone else this, so I’m sorry it’s late, but will you be in our wedding?”

“Oh wow. Yes, of course, Bdubs!”

“Awesome! Okay, well, I’ll leave you alone now.”

“Have a good night!”

“You too!”

Beef:

Graduation day arrived and all of the guys met up before the ceremony, excited. It seemed like it was only yesterday that Beef was refusing to get out of bed that first day of school and now here he was: graduating from high school with his friends and…then what? That part he wasn’t sure of yet, but he had the summer to figure it out.

He was still upset with Pause, but he was going to do his best to put on a happy face and get along. After all, they would only get one high school graduation and then, most likely, they would all go their separate ways. 

The ceremony itself was long and boring. The valedictorian spoke in the slowest voice and her speech seemed to drag on forever.

Beef looked around at the rows of his peers surrounding him. Guude was further down his row and the rest of the gang was behind him somewhere. When everyone walked to get their diploma and shake the principal’s hand, the others yelled and cheered. Beef’s name was the first called of the group and he was a little nervous to go up in front of that massive crowd of people. Guude was shortly after him and Beef clapped really hard. It took a while, but then it was BdoubleO’s turn, then Nebris, then Etho (they were right next to each other because their class was significantly smaller than most high school classes, it was the cutest thing), and then finally, Pause went up. People were really loud when he was up there, probably because he was student council president. Beef clapped too, so he wouldn’t be rude. Then altogether, they threw their caps in the air and then they were free!

The after-party at his house was insane. Pause, Guude, Millbee, Annette, and BdoubleO got wicked drunk and Etho, Nebris, and himself just sighed, knowing they would have to care for them in the morning.

Beef watched as Guude and BdoubleO danced with one another crazily and he saw Nebris talking to Etho over by the food table. He sighed. He wished nothing had ever come between him and Pause. Then he could be dancing with him tonight. Sometimes he thought he had over-reacted when he said he didn’t want to move in with Pause. Maybe he should have just done it. He would still have Pause that way. 

Once they were all asleep except for the sober ones, Etho turned to Beef and asked,

“How are you, Beef?”

“I’m fine,” Beef said. 

“No, really. How are you?”

“I’m hanging in there.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Yeah, actually, I do. I keep going over things in my head over and over again and the only thing I think of is I should have just moved in with Pause. He and I would still be together that way.”

“No, Beef,” said Nebris, joining the conversation. “Just because you had chosen to live with him, would not have been a guarantee that you would still be together. You did the right thing. You weren’t ready for such a big step in your relationship and you stood your ground. That’s what you have to do in a relationship. Communicate. I can tell you this, it wasn’t your fault. Pause made a poor decision and has to deal with the consequences of that decision.” 

“Thanks, Nebs. I’m going to go to bed now.”

“Good night!”

Etho:

Etho sighed. “I worry about him a lot.”

“I know you do, Etho,” said Nebris. “But he will be okay. These things just take time.”

Etho nodded. “I know.”

“Have you taken your medication today? Are you feeling alright?”

“Now that no one’s around, you’re gonna start this?” asked Etho, amused.

“The doctor wanted me to make sure that if you felt badly, you’d get home and rest.”

“Nebris, I’ve spent about a month in recovery and I’m tired of it. I’m fine, honestly! I look forward to the day when the doctor stops breathing down my neck. My casts will be off in about two weeks and then I’ll be done with that guy!”

“He’s just making sure you’re okay,” said Nebris. “As am I.” 

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” He hugged him. “I love you, you know that, right?”

“I love you too.”

Etho kissed him on the forehead and laid down on the couch. Normally, he would stay in a guest room like everyone else, but the cast on his leg made it difficult to climb stairs.

Nebris made sure Etho was comfortable and then went upstairs to sleep. 

Guude:

There was so much wedding stuff to do and only a week left. Each day, he and BdoubleO worked for many hours a day with occasional help from the guys.

Guude could not wait for the wedding. It made him extremely happy to know that very soon he would be married to his one true love. 

The rehearsal dinner went smoothly. Guude’s parents had flown in for the big day and all of his friends were there.

Towards the end of the night, he noticed Beef was gone. Looking around further, he noticed Pause was also.

Hmm, Guude thought. I wonder. 

He had searched the entire apartment, where the rehearsal dinner took place, except for his and BdoubleO’s room. 

He opened the door and there were Beef and Pause, making out, on his and BdoubleO’s bed. 

Well, they had been, at least, until both looked up, faces red. 

Guude backed out of the room and found BdoubleO. 

“You’ll never believe what I just saw.” 

“Try me,” said BdoubleO.

Guude told BdoubleO about Pause and Beef and he squealed,

“It’s like an early wedding present!”

Guude laughed. “I probably embarrassed them though.”

“Well, they shouldn’t have chosen our bedroom to make up in then.”

“Good point.”

Beef re-joined the party and Guude headed toward him with BdoubleO following closely behind.

“So what happened?!” Guude asked. 

Pause:

The whole week, Beef had been in a good mood and had even smiled at Pause, which gave Pause hope. The night of the rehearsal dinner, Pause decided to attempt to talk to Beef.  
“Can we talk?” Pause whispered in Beef’s ear when the rest of the party were otherwise occupied.

“Sure,” said Beef, following Pause to Guude and BdoubleO’s bedroom. 

“Beef, I wanted to express just how sorry I am. I feel awful for how I treated you, but mostly for kissing that girl. I don’t know what I was thinking, no, I wasn’t thinking. I was stupid.”  
Beef, the whole time Pause had been talking, was listening intently. 

Pause was surprised when Beef smiled. 

“I missed you, Pause. Yes, you were such a jerk, but I’ve had some time to think things over and I realize I forgive you and love you and I want to work things out with you.” 

“I love you too, Beef. About the whole apartment thing, I’m-,”

“Not now, Pause. Let’s just enjoy our friends’ wedding and we can talk more in-depth later, okay?”

“Okay. Deal.”

“Now come here,” said Beef, pulling Pause closer to him, kissing him.

Beef:

“…and that’s basically how it happened,” said Beef to Guude and BdoubleO, who looked thrilled at the news.

“This is excellent news, Beef!”

Beef smiled, but he didn’t want to upstage Guude or BdoubleO, seeing as how their wedding was the next day. 

“You guys ready for tomorrow?”

“Of course!” said Guude. “Are you?”

“Yes! I have obtained the certificate for tomorrow! It’s a privilege and an honor to marry you two.”

“Oh, stop it! You flatter us,” said BdoubleO. 

Shortly after Beef told BdoubleO and Guude about him and Pause, people started to head home, wanting to give Guude and BdoubleO plenty of time to finish last-minute preparations and to get a good night’s sleep. Beef headed home, happy for his friends and happy that he and Pause were working things out. 

BdoubleO:

The Slabs had offered up their house to be the reception area since things would be too crowded in BdoubleO and Guude’s apartment. The wedding ceremony was to be at four, with the reception immediately after. It was to be a pretty small wedding with only their closest friends invited. As BdoubleO was preparing to head over to the Slab’s house to get ready that afternoon, he got a phone call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Bdubs. It’s Mom.”

BdoubleO hadn’t spoken to his parents in months and so he anticipated this conversation would be awkward. 

“Hey, Mom. How are you?”

“How am I? How are you?!”

“Fine. Umm, not to be rude, but what is this call about? I haven’t heard from you in months and suddenly, out of nowhere, you’re calling me.”

“I ran into Guude the other day.”

What? Why had Guude not told him this? He didn’t blame him, after all, things had been pretty busy, he was just surprised.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he mentioned the two of you were getting married today, so I thought I’d call to congratulate you.”

“Thanks. Well, I’m actually headed to my wedding now, so if you don’t mind-,”

“I miss you, honey.”

BdoubleO didn’t really want to have this conversation right now.

“I miss you guys, too. Listen, I’m sorry I haven’t called. I was just mad at you.”

“I know, honey, I know, but we’re so happy for you.”

Suddenly, BdoubleO felt a warmth come over him.

“Mom, I want you and dad to come to the wedding.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I know we’ve had our differences, but you’re my parents and you should be there.” 

“Alright, we’ll be there.”

The phone call ended and BdoubleO hustled over to the Slab household. 

“BdoubleO,” said Mrs. Slab. “Where have you been? Etho and I were a little worried you wouldn’t show.”

“Sorry, I had to take a phone call from my mom.”

“Your mom? That’s nice.”

“Umm, actually, I was wondering, if it’s not too much trouble, could you set places for them? They’re coming.”

“Of course I can,” said Mrs. Slab.

“Thank you for all you’ve done for Guude and I.”

“You’re very welcome.”

BdoubleO was starting to feel a little nervous. It was a good nervous, one that would be replaced with such bliss when, in a matter of minutes, he would be married to Guude. 

Guude:

He had, of course, seen BdoubleO in a tux before, but it seemed he was more handsome than usual today. For all of the bad things they had been through: Guude almost having to move, Genny being an asshole, among others, there were many more good memories they had shared. 

Everyone arrived, the music played, and it was time to start. 

“And by the power vested in me through this certificate,” said Beef. “I now pronounce you husband and husband.” 

Guude kissed BdoubleO and then the reception started.

“Hey, BOO,” said Guude.

“Yeah?”

“Your parents are here.”

“I know. I invited them.”

“You did?!”

“Yeah. My mom called and we talked and I decided to let bygone be bygones and let them come.”

“That’s great!”

“Yes it is!” said BdoubleO. 

In the middle of dinner, Beef stood up and clattered his fork against his glass to get everyone’s attention.

“Here is the part where speeches are supposed to happen, and, don’t worry, they will, but what Guude and BdoubleO don’t know is instead of one or two of us giving a speech, we’re all going to say a little something. I’m gonna start, obviously. Guude and BdoubleO, I have known you two basically throughout our entire high school career and when you two got together our sophomore year, I knew it would be a relationship that would last and here you are: a married couple! I just want to wish you every happiness imaginable!”

Then Nebris stood up.

“I realize I have not known you as long as most of the people here have, but as soon as I saw you two, I thought, ‘Man, those two sure have a connection’. When I was new here, you guys became two of my closest friends and I’m so happy that I got to be here to witness you two start your new life together. You two amaze me and inspire me and I hope you have a great life together.”

Next, it was Pause.

“I am also a newb when it comes to the BdoubleO and Guude fan club,” everyone laughed and then he continued, “But if there has ever been a more amazing and perfect match, I must have missed it somewhere along the way. Way to go, guys! You’re married!”

Then Millbee.

“I’m not much of a speaker, so I’ll keep it short. I’m so happy for you two and good luck!”

And finally, Etho.

“I both can and can’t believe this day has come. I’m just honored that you made us all a part of it. I love you both. You are two of my greatest friends and I’m so happy for you. Here’s to you,” he said as he raised his glass.

All the other guests raised their glasses to toast them and then they drank.

Guude was astonished. That was so sweet, what all the guys had said about them. BdoubleO was crying. 

The reception went on for hours with everyone dancing and having an all-around good time. And then it was time for BdoubleO and Guude to leave for their honeymoon.

“We’ll see you all when we get back!” said BdoubleO.

The guys all said goodbye and then Guude and BdoubleO drove away, ready to start their new life together. 

Beef:

That night, after the reception, Pause, Etho, Nebris, and Beef all helped Mrs. Slab clean up the mess.

“Guys, it’s late. Etho and I can take care of this. Really, it’s not a problem.”

“I want to help, Mrs. Slab,” said Nebris.

“If you don’t mind, I think we’re gonna head out,” said Beef, looking at Pause for confirmation.

“Yeah. I’m getting tired.”

“Thank you so much for coming and for helping clean up.”

“Of course!”

Beef and Pause left and Pause asked,

“Do you want to come over so we can talk?”

“Sure.”

Once inside Pause’s apartment, Beef said,

“This really is a nice place.”

“Yeah, I thought so too.”

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t want to move in with you. It was just surprising and you just kinda sprung the news on me and I hated offending you, but I had to be honest with you and myself.”

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have just assumed that you would want to right away and I should have respected your decision not to.”

“It’s okay. I’m just happy that we aren’t fighting anymore. I really did miss you.”

“I’m sorry also about cheating. I promise it will never happen again. I missed you too.”

Beef had been thinking about his plans for after high school all week and he had come up with an idea, if Pause was willing to go along with it.

“I’ve been thinking about what I want to do after high school. I know I should probably go to college, but I’m done with school and I don’t feel I’m ready for it. I had this crazy idea, though. I want to travel the world and I want you there by my side.”

“What?! Just drop everything and go?!”

“Well, why not? We both have our savings. We could put them together and we’d be set.”

“Woah. What brought this on?”

“I have always wanted to visit places in the world and I have never gotten the opportunity. What better way to travel than with you, the love of my life?”

“Sure. Let’s do this!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Absolutely!”

“Oh my gosh. I’m so excited! We could pack up everything and be gone by tomorrow.”

“What about the apartment?”

“We could see if Etho wants it.”

“Beef, I have never seen you this excited about anything.”

“I’m just so happy you’re coming with me, Pause!”

“Good, I’m glad!”

Beef called Etho, Nebris, and Millbee and said,

“Meet us at the MindCrack! Pause and I have something to tell you!”

The gang, minus BdoubleO and Guude, of course, all met at the MindCrack to hear the news.

Beef explained their plan and Etho asked,

“What?! Beef, are you crazy?”

“Yeah, I just might be.” 

“What about college?”

“I don’t want to go.”

“What about a renewable source of income?”

“We will figure everything out as we go.”

“That could be dangerous,” said Nebris.

“We just want to make sure you won’t be broke stuck in a foreign country,” said Etho.

“Millbee?” asked Beef. “What do you think?”

“I say go for it, man! If it’s something you really want to do!”

“It is! I’ve always wanted to travel!”

“I’m gonna miss you so much, guys,” said Etho. “Call me and write often.”

“Of course. We can Skype too.”

“And if you ever need anything, let us know,” said Nebris. 

“Thanks.”

“So, when are you guys leaving?” asked Millbee.

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?!”

“Yeah. We wanna get started on this great adventure right away!”

“Do you have tickets? Passports? Have you packed?”

“Yes, yes, and no, not yet. We have to be at the airport at six tomorrow morning.”

“We’ll let you guys pack then,” said Nebris.

Beef and Pause packed up all of their possessions they wanted to take. They figured if any of the guys wanted anything they left behind, they could have them. 

They went to bed early that night so they could get up to go to the airport.

At five, their alarm went off and they set off for the airport minutes later, each of them holding their luggage, one suitcase each.” 

They were surprised to see Etho and Nebris at the airport.

“We’re here to send you off,” said Etho.

“Oh, wow, guys! Thanks for coming!”

“Well, this might be the last time we see you in a long time,” said Nebris.

“Oh, hey, Etho, I forgot to ask, do you want the apartment?” Pause asked.

“I don’t see why not.”

“You guys can have our car too. We probably won’t need it, plus we obviously can’t take it with us.”

“You guys are really serious about this,” said Etho with a sigh. “I thought you were kidding.”

“No, we’re serious about this.”

Just then, they called Beef and Pause’s flight number.

“Well, we’ve got to go,” said Beef.

Etho and Nebris each hugged both Pause and Beef. 

“Be safe,” said Etho. “Call me when you land.”

“Will do,”

“Have fun. If you need anything, anything at all, give us a call!” said Nebris.

“Thank you!”

“C’mon, Beef, let’s go!” said Pause. 

“We’ve really got to go now.”

“Bye, guys!”

“Goodbye!” 

They waved as they got on the plane. 

Etho:

“They’re crazy,” said Etho.

“Oh, Etho, they’re just ambitious. Just let them have their fun and if it all blows up in their face, which it might, they can come back here and get jobs.” 

“You’re right. I should just be supportive of them. I’m just worried.”

“Don’t worry,” said Nebris. “They’ll be fine.”

“So, have you thought about what you’re doing this next year?”

Nebris, who had already made up his mind which place to go, just kept quiet, listening to what Etho had to say. 

“Because I was thinking, if you go to Pennsylvania, we could make it work. I could try to fly to see you every once in a while and you’d still be back for holidays, right?”

“I have made up my mind,” said Nebris. “My whole life, I have had to move from place to place because of my parents’ work, but this time, I don’t want to move and it’s my choice. Everyone’s leaving, but I have everything I could ever want here because I have you.”

Etho pulled Nebris in for a hug and said,

“This is gonna be a great summer and then it’s gonna be a great year. Come on, let’s go get some ice cream.” 

 

And Etho was right. The summer was great. Nebris and Etho moved into Pause’s apartment and had to explain where Pause and Beef went once BdoubleO and Guude got back. 

“Those two have lost their damn minds!” said Guude.

“At least we got to say goodbye to them before we left! I didn’t realize it would be goodbye for such a long time, though,” said BdoubleO. 

Guude and BdoubleO were happy to find out that Nebris was staying in town. BdoubleO was going to college to become a social worker (he’d always wanted to help people) and Guude was going to work. Down the road, say three or four years,though, he would have to stay at home for a while with their newly adopted baby girl. 

Pause and Beef were gone for a year travelling until they decided they missed home and wanted to come back. Pause and Beef both attended the community college after Pause had persuaded Beef that it would be a good idea to further their education.  
Of the group, Millbee and Annette were the next couple to get married. They got married five years after Guude and BdoubleO did. In fact, their daughter was the flower girl at the wedding.

Next, Nebris and Etho got married, two years after that. It was a huge, beautiful wedding and although Etho was considering inviting his father, he was still too angry at him so he decided against it. He never reconciled with his father. 

Finally, Pause and Beef eloped the year after that which BdoubleO was kind of offended at because he wanted to be invited to all the weddings, but oh well, his home life was pretty busy anyway. 

Not to be cliché or anything, but they truly did live happily ever after. Sure, each couple had their ups-and downs (Millbee didn’t want kids, Annette did. Nebris had to leave the state for a while for an excellent opportunity for his career and Etho really didn’t want to move for that little amount of time, so they were apart from each other, which was hard, etc, etc.), but they were all undeniably happy and they credited it to their high school days, which truly were the best days of their lives.


End file.
